It's the beginning of December now, and we have let ourselves start feeling a little Christmasy here! We haven't put up our tree yet, and thanks to Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram, I'm feeling like the only family on the face of the planet who haven't... But it doesn't mean we haven't started celebrating the season.
I should say, Christmas is a pretty important time in this house, as in many other houses, but neither Jordan or I have ever been big "Santa" people--it's not something that I think was ever a really big deal in either of our houses growing up. Neither of us "believed" in Santa even as young children. Christmas was more about advent and the birth of Jesus, the promise of hope and about creating/instilling traditions, giving of ourselves, spending time together as a family and thinking of others.
While these things are incredibly important to us and we hope will be to both Gabriel and baby girl as they get older, sometimes you have to get a little silly, get hyped up on candy canes and hot chocolate and just have a good time. And so this morning we armed ourselves with candy canes and headed out to see Santa with friends.
To be honest, I was not expecting much for our Mall Santa. My mama friends here mostly have horror stories about taking their kids to see Santa--lost shoes, tears, horrible pictures, crowds, etc. And then sometimes, when your little one is not feeling well, even Santa can't help. My expectations were, um, tempered and I decided to think of it more as a "rite of passage." Doesn't every kid need at least one crying picture with Santa??
We were actually quite delighted. Unexpectedly, it was quiet this morning when we went to see Santa--complete with a real belly and a real beard. He was legit. And delightful! We had a pretend snowball war (which Gabriel engaged in), we built a pretend snowman, we lit the tree lights using colours from the kids, read a story and sang songs. I think Gabriel was quite smitten with Santa and thought him rather funny. When we actually got to sitting with Santa, he wasn't such a stranger any more. He gave him a candy cane and a five five and we talked about trucks and trains together.
Poor Tatiana feeling a little under the weather... A candy cane helped :)
A "Sears pose." Where is that darn camera?
We finished off the morning by guzzling some warm hot chocolate before driving home. And all the way home, the new word was "San-Ta! San-Ta!" Still probably going to keep it "not a big deal" but hey, thanks Santa! That was pretty fun!
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