Visiting Santa

I was a little worried about visiting Santa this year. Lily's first time seeing santa did not go well. And last year we didn't even get through the line before Lily decided she didn't want to go through with it. So I decided to try it again this year, but kept my expectations low. We decided that Santa in the park would probably be better than Santa in the mall. The basic theory was less stimulation, plus a locale she was familiar with, would equal greater chance of success.



While we were in line, she was very excited. She was gabbering on about what she was going to ask Santa for.

She sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (rather loudly, too), then proudly declared she was going to ask Santa if Rudolph was his favorite reindeer. "Mama," she said, "I love Santa. And Mrs. Clause, too."



So there we were. The moment of truth. I am happy to say that, while she was a bit shy, she wasn't scared.

She told Santa she wanted a giant teddy bear and a Rapunzel Tower for Christmas. She wasn't very chatty, but she left with a smile and it wasn't the traumatizing experience I feared.



The best part of the whole experience, though, was getting a candy cane from Mrs. Clause. She was every so excited about that.

After we finished meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus, we got steaming cups of hot chocolate and looked at Christmas lights. It was a very Christmasy kind of an evening.