Sittin' With Santa

For the second year in a row now we've gone to see Santa in Walnut Creek.

I cannot tell you how much our Santa-going experience has changed since we started going here!

I have probably mentioned before that Connor is very afraid of anything large hanging high overhead. He is also not a fan of any big decorations. He even said to me this year that he would NOT be going to the mall until the Christmas stuff is all gone.

The Santa in Walnut Creek is in this nice room that is decorated to look like a living room...fireplace and all. They allow only one family in at a time and the kids have room to walk around.

It is so warm, invititing and not overwhelming...for us or the kids.

In the past I haven't dressed the kids up in their Christmas outfits but I decided to give it a try this year.

This Christmas was also a first for Jeff joining us. We usually go early during the day while Jeff is

at work. This year we waited and made and evening out of it. My parents even met us there to get in on the fun.

While waiting in line (which was about 5 min long. Score!) Emmy met a friend!

Later we had a little talk about boys in Christmas sweaters;)

Connor was so excited he couldn't stand still!

Oh wait...he's 5...he doesn't stand still anyway...

And Dominic is such a good sport! He got dressed up too...do you remember my post on our night out? This is the outfit he picked out...

Let's back up a tad...some more info you should know about Connor...he LOVES magazines. Any toy or train magazine that is sent to our house immediately becomes property of Connor.

So at Christmas time when we are getting dozens and dozens of them in the mail...Connor is in heaven!

The Lego magazine was his fave this year and he used it to make his Christmas list. We literally went through it...I with pen and paper and Connor telling me exactly what he wanted.

Then he took the list with him to visit Santa to save Santa from listening to an unending rattling off of different Lego sets coveted by my son!

By the time we were finished with his list, we might as well have handed the whole magazine over to Mr. C!

Here Connor and Santa are reviewing the list...

While Connor was busy, Emma Kate walked around the room and found a huge rubber duckie sitting in a toy display. (Emma is obsessed with duckie's lately!) When it was time to sit on Santa's lap, she was all for it...as long as rubber duckie came too...

I didn't bother scanning in our official photo, which was super cute as well, LOVE this pic!

I was so pleasantly surprised that Emma wasn't scared of "Ta-ta."

After asking him for all things "Do-do" (Dora-which she is also obsessed with right now)

she even gave him a couple hugs before leaving.

My mom even got in for a hug! That lady is hilarious...

she goes up to Santa and says, "Santa do I get a hug too?!"

In which Santa replies, "I thought you'd never ask! I remember last year...!"

The rest of the night we were singing, "I saw Nana kissing Santa Claus!"

We left Santa and got some frozen yogurt to wrap up the evening...

We ate OUTSIDE!

It was freezing!

And tricky trying to keep Christmas outfits on 3 kids yogurt-free!

Success!