Visit to Santa

Every year, my girlfriends Erin and Allison and I take a day off work and head to Fashion Square to take Aidan (Allison's 4 year old) and Nolan to see Santa as well as spend the day just hanging out and playing with the kiddo's. This year we did it earlier than last because we didn't want to deal with the lines to see Santa. Well, either we were early enough or the economy is so bad that people are taking their children to see Santa, because there wasn't a line at all...which turned out to be a blessing in disguise which you'll understand more if you read further.

To set the stage, here is our picture from our visit to see Santa last year. Nolan was a sweet little boy - he just grinned and crossed his hands and seemed to be having a good time.

Well, a LOT can change in a year. He's now a super-active toddler, who knows what he wants (and what he doesn't want), and what he didn't want this particular day and time, was to be plopped down on some scary fat mans' lap and be told to smile and have fun. As you can see, he definitely asserted himself and let us know how he felt about this plan.

Now the bad part that I should be ashamed to admit - I laughed hysterically as this whole thing was going on. I'm not even close to exaggerating. In fact, Nolan started to say "Dada" because he realized through the screaming that "Momma" wasn't going to save him from this scary man.

As we waited for Santa to arrive, we took a few pictures to remember the day by. Here's Erin holding little baby No'. He rarely is still for anyone, so capturing a picture is sometime challenging.

Here is Allison and Aidan too. Aidan is what gives me hope that someday I'll be able to rationalize with Nolan and get to him to behave. Aidan was VERY into Santa this year and we practically had to pry him off Santa's lap as he listed off his very long Christmas list.

And lastly, here is Brian, Nolan and me. Brian didn't take the whole day off work to hang with us, but he did manage to sneak away long enough to witness the Santa episode. We rarely ever get a picture of the three of us together (one of us is always taking the pic), so you may see this picture again as our Christmas card....if I ever get around to it!

So hopefully next year Nolan will understand the concept of Santa a little better and not be so frightened...but I'm not holding out hope. Merry Christmas!!!