Santa Came!!

Christmas wouldn't be complete without a visit to the mall Santa, ha ha!!  I really love our local Santa because it's the same one every year, and he's so, so sweet ~ just how Santa should be :)  I may have mentioned before that Anna will only be held by Mama, Daddy, and more and more often Grandmama and Grandaddy.  So, we knew it was going to be a challenge to get a photo this year with Ben and Anna on Santa's lap.  As expected, Anna was having none of this big, furry strange man holding her, but we managed to grab a decent photo before she knew what was going on!!

Ben asked for a present, a toy, and when pressed by Santa, finally asked for a dinosaur.  This year was really neat because it was the first year he could really comprehend the Santa story.  I'm so glad he wasn't afraid of him (it also helped that we told him Santa would give him a candy cane after he sat on his lap, ha ha!!)

Here's Ben and Anna putting out cookies and milk...we all got so tickled at Anna swiping Santa's Oreos!

Checking out what Old St. Nick brought!  Ben got a dinosaur (of course, since that is the only thing he asked Santa for!), a marble run that we had to drag him away from to open other gifts, an art easel to share with Anna, and Anna also got a wooden walker with a xylophone and other fun things on it. 

We've had a yellow Elmo chair for several months that's been such a hit. Even though Mama had to hit up Ebay to find another one exactly like it, Ben still asks which one is Anna's so he can sit in THAT one.  Goodness!!

Funny pic of Anna playing with Ben's Santa hat...

Christmas Morning, 2012

Santa Baby!!

Last week, Anna got to meet Santa! Of course, big brother Ben was there to show her the ropes :) We really weren't sure how Ben would act now that he's old enough to have a real opinion about sitting on a strange-looking stranger's lap! I had a feeling he'd do OK, though, given we had the following exchange earlier this month when we waved at the mall Santa as we passed by:

Me: Ben, that man you waved at is named Santa Claus. He brings you presents!! We're going to come back when Daddy's with us and sit on his lap and tell him what you want for Christmas.

Ben: **blank stare**

Me: You know, presents, like a puzzle, or books, or a school bus toy...

Ben: (leans forward in the stroller) "GET ME TO HIM!!"

Bahahahahaha!!!! How funny!! School buses are his favorite thing to see and talk about right now, so I knew that would be enticing!

So, we sat Anna on Santa's lap first in case Ben freaked out, we'd at least have a good picture of her. Here she is ~ Anna's first Christmas!

Ben did great, though, and seemed to have fun talking to Santa. Of course, he's been asked a million times, "What do you want Santa to bring you?" and he has consistently said the following:

1. a present (always the first response)
2. a pink present
3. elephant
4. tiger
5. a vitamin
6. alligator

We'll see how Santa does with that list ;)

And here they are together...so sweet!

Well, it's Christmas Eve and gifts are assembled and wrapped, and Santa's come to see us! Time for Mama and Daddy to (finally) go to bed and rest up for the big day tomorrow...I can't wait to see Ben's face in the morning since this year, he really "gets" the Santa thing! Merry Christmas and Good night!