More Santa Love

Well, as Christmas approached, we saw more and more of the nicely-hatted Mr. Claus. Every visit to the mall included a spotting of Santa with James waving enthusiastically. On Christmas Eve Eve (that would be the 23rd), Dan met James & I at the mall after work. We had a family dinner upstairs at the food court in a seat overlooking Santa's chair. Evidently Santa was dining at the same time. James spotted him right away as he returned to his station. "I see Santa!!!" He was so excited! (Another mildly amusing episode from that dinner is that James got a book in his Chick-fil-A kids' meal. After flipping through it he tossed it aside... right over the wall into the Verizon kiosk down below. Oops. I ran down to apologize/retrieve it.)

On Christmas Eve morning, James and I went over to the Bergen Mall to pick up our last few items. Again, he was quite excited to see Santa. There wasn't much of a line, so we went up for an official visit (instead of James's standard shouting of greetings from across the wall). James was, again, anxious for his turn. However, as soon as I popped him out of the stroller, he chose to sit on the floor making bashful faces at Santa while keeping me in reach. He finally got on the big guy's lap, but the photo wasn't so great. This at least gave me an easy out for having to purchase any photos ($17 for the cheapest package!).

That afternoon, James's nap was interrupted by the arrival of Santa at our corner! The town's EMS has a Frosty & Santa that tour the streets (complete with sirens) every year. Dan was arriving home just at this moment, and as soon as he heard that James was awake, he grabbed him and his lil' jacket and ran out the door. (I followed behind with James's shoes and a camera).

James was thrilled by the "sleigh" and Santa. We chatted with our former neighbors and then began walking back towards home. James protested. "More, more Santa! More, more trucks!" So we promptly walked back. James went willingly to Santa's lap and even posed for some pictures. (Sadly, my battery needed charging and was therefore a bit slow, so I didn't get some of his best smiles recorded.)

Moral of the story-- if you want your two year old to sit happily with Santa, have some big trucks involved!

Post-Dec. 25th Santa news: in our few trips to the mall in the last couple of days, James has been looking for Santa. He's known right where to find him, and has been quite disappointed to continually find an empty chair.