Visit With Santa 2011

We made our annual visit to see Santa with the girls this weekend. We have always gone to NE Mall, because they always have a really cute Santa and setup. I MUST be able to take my own pictures and video, which they let you do with any purchase. We always just buy the smallest package and then take our own pictures. I frame our Santa pics every year, and I put them out as part of our Christmas decorations. The ones when the girls are crying when they are little are the funniest. Campbell really gets a kick out of “baby Campbell” in the picture when she is scared of Santa. This year we went to Bass Pro where they have a really cute Santa setup, and the picture is FREE in addition to being able to take your own photos and video. Note for next year: go to Bass Pro during the week! We went on Sunday, and they were handing out passes to come back for certain time slots. The earliest time we could get was 2 ½ hours from the time we arrived. Yikes! We headed over to Grapevine Mills instead. We were in and out in 30 minutes. The Santa was much too skinny for Santa, and the setup was a little cheesy, BUT we did get our own picture and video, and all three girls did “participate” in the picture even if they weren’t all smiles or all in Santa’s lap! I’d call it a success! Conley was the most nervous about it. I kept saying “he’s not scary, he’s nice.” She would just repeat that to us in line…”he’s not scary, he’s nice.” You could tell she was really worried but trying to convince herself that he isn’t scary. We told her many times that he had chocolate to give her if she would sit in his lap. She kept saying she wanted chocolate but she didn’t want to sit in his lap. When it came time for our turn, she REALLY didn’t want to get in his lap. Cooper didn’t either, but I was able to physically sit her in his lap and she stayed there with a worried look on her face. Conley put up more of a fight for sure! She finally was willing to stand next to him for the picture. You can see the concern in Cooper and Conley’s face, but they still did pretty good! At the end they were giving him high fives after he handed them chocolate. Now, if you ask them about Santa, they smile and tell you he gave them chocolate and high fives. It ended on a good note! I would bet money that they still won’t sit in his lap again if offered the chance, but maybe next year they’ll be more comfortable.

I've had multiple failed attempts at posting the video for this, but if you are on Facebook, you've probably already seen it.