Visit with Santa

My computer was giving me problems last week so I was not posting or commenting much...

But we had  great visit with Santa on Sunday (12/6). It was in our local downtown shopping area /park. It was from 12-4pm and we decided to get there early so we could be the first few in line.

Well, we were the first in line!

It was fun waiting around. It was a beautiful sunny day and soon more families showed up and the kids were having a  blast running around the park.

Beanie was practically bouncing off the walls (grass!). She was very excited and looked adorable in her cute new G.AP red dress with a festive bow in her hair. As I mentioned to one of the ladies waiting in line, I hoped the excitement would not fizzle as soon as she saw Santa.

We had decided that if she suddenly got cold feet we would let some of the other families go ahead so Beanie could see what would happen. I had walked her through everything - Santa will come, he will sit there, I will stand here and take pics, etc.

Finally around 11:45am the Santa's helpers came and started to set up, and right on time at 12pm Santa came on a horse drawn sleigh.

So fun!

He came from the opposite side to where the line was formed to enter the gazebo area. Some kids ran up from the other side of the park to give him hugs.

I felt Beanie suddenly cling to my leg...so I though "uh oh".

But once he sat down I said "oh look, its our turn to go meet Santa" and she walked over.   He said "hello cutie, how are you?" or something like that and and reached out to pick her up, I waited with bated breath for her to burst into tears, but she was awesome.

She sat on his lap (YAY!!) and talked to him (OMG!).

He asked her her name which she told him and he asked how old she was and she said "three!" (so cute given she is not yet three)...showing him four fingers.  How cute is that!

Then he asked her if she had been good and what she wanted from Santa, and she said a drum set.   (Yep, unbeknownst to her its sitting in the garage ;-))

I took some great pics and we moved off. I made a donation to some local charity and Beanie got some sleigh bells.

We then went over to do the sleigh ride, which she kept calling the "hay ride" - lol.

We were about 5th in line and Beanie could not wait she was so excited. We got on ( my Mom, Beanie and I) on one side and opposite us another family. We went on a slow ride around the park. It was fun.

Later we went and had lunch and walked round the stores, incluidng G.AP and Beanie's favorite the "smelly store"  with is Bath and B.ody, She loves smelling the candles and lotions - such a girl!.

I was so excited that she had a good time. Last year we totally skipped Santa since she refused to meet him so I did not even bother with it. In 2013, I had taken her as a 9 mos old and she has cried hysterically.

It was the same Santa - lol!

Oh and on a totally random note - this Santa is so "real" looking. We saw him back in 2013 and I nearly fell off my chair. He is an old guy and I think his beard and hair are real too.  Amazing!