Oh, Santa

Clay and Carolina did not have any love for Santa this year (or last year, either). I tried my best to gear Clay up for him by telling him how nice Santa is and how he would bring him presents. He seemed okay with the idea of meeting him...until the time came.

We decided to do a practice run at Bass Pro Shops because it's free and there weren't any lines on a weekday. Santa came out and so did Clay's screams. I think Carolina might have been fine but we definitely have a monkey see, monkey do mentality around here.

We let some other kids go in front of us so that we could see how nice Santa was and what to do when it was our turn. Each time the other kids would finish and we would start our walk up the thrashing about like he was on fire crying would start again. Carolina also let it all out when it was her turn.

Santa was very sweet and I was impressed that we eventually we even got Clay to give him a high-five. It's the little things, you know?


One morning while Nana and Carolina stayed warm at home, Clay and I went to a local Santa pancake breakfast. First of all, can I say how mad Clay was when we passed IHOP right before we got there and he realized we weren't having the pancake breakfast he was imagining. Who knew?

Our table was very close to Santa so we got a chance to watch Santa while we ate our breakfast. I had been imagining this fun breakfast with me and my boy just getting to have a conversation and talk about all the fun stuff happening this season.

Well, the experience went a little differently than I expected. Instead of the sweet breakfast I imagined, I got: cold orange juice spilled all over Clay's lap and nothing to clean it up with, Clay screaming every couple of minutes ("I wanna go to da car! I don't wanna go see Sanna"), LOUD Christmas music, pancakes that you couldn't cut with a chainsaw much less the plastic fork they gave me, lots of people to watch (meaning Clay wouldn't acknowledge any of my attempts at conversation) and all of this took place in a tent (and yes, it was cold). Oh well. There's always next year. It wasn't exactly what I had planned but I was grateful for the chance to spend some time with Clay.


Our last Santa visit was at the Arboretum. By this point in the season, everyone was getting a little tired of the Santa visits. This was the one I had looked forward to, though, and was hoping that it would be THE Santa picture of the year. Ahem. Someone should have told my kids that.

Both kids screamed like banshees until finally the photographer said he wouldn't take the picture if I didn't get in it with them. I am NOT the mother who likes to be in the Santa pictures but after driving the 30 minutes to get to the Arboretum and standing in the Santa line, I was determined we were leaving with a Santa picture. Say cheese, Mommy. (Is it just me or does this Santa look like he's holding us hostage?? Creepy.)



We did have a storytime with a very sweet Mrs. Claus after our Santa visit and Clay warmed up to her a little better. Maybe there's still hope for next year...


And that is the story of the Skloss Santa visits for 2009. We love you, Santa!