Santa Picture 2017

Thanksgiving is days away, and I have already accomplished getting the annual Santa photo. I made plans to take Grandma Delores to lunch and get a little mall shopping done too. Shiloh joined us and we had a nice afternoon. 

I made a huge mistake by not listening to what the kids told Santa they wanted. When I asked Griffin in the car, his response was "I'm not telling!" I convinced him I needed to know so that I didn't get them the same things, it worked. Griffin wants some kind of soldier lego tank thing that I'm sure he just made up but wished it existed. Cooper either asked for an excavator or elevator. The way he says the word makes it questionable. Griffin said Santa took it as "elevator". Cooper just smiles when you ask him which thing he really asked for. 

We love Santa!

Santa was so much fun this year. No tears, no hesitation, all smiles. The hardest part was waiting in line to choose pics and pay.
 
I'm happy to have another year of this crossed off the list! Now, if I could get my Christmas shopping done......

Pre-Christmas

I finally began Christmas shopping over the weekend. I've never waited this long, but I've also never felt so Scrooge-like either. Springfield was nuts, but the boys were good as gold for Tammy and I as we navigated the mall for hours. I should have taken a photo of the 2 of us, each pushing a little boy in a rented mall racecar stroller. It's so much easier than bringing our own. 

 
 As I was wrapping presents last night, I thought it might be a good idea to do a little catching up before all the madness of the Christmas gatherings happens.

The boys saw Santa. 

Cooper had the typical 1 year old response. Absolute fear. He doesn't know who Santa is yet and can't communicate well enough to be convinced that he is a nice guy. 

Griffin handled it like a champ. He told Santa he wanted a "big bed". We have known this is what he wanted. He thinks his toddler bed is too small, and that is the reason he needs to fall asleep with us at night now. By "big bed", he is upgrading to the full size that his original crib will transform into. The problem is, it's hard for Santa to drop off a big bed on Christmas morning. We can't decide whether we are going to give it to him somehow on Christmas Eve from us, then something else from Santa in the morning........or, make up some elaborate story about how Santa gave us the mattress and we need just a couple hours to get it all put together. 

He really melted my heart yesterday. Grandpa Bill and I were sitting with him talking about the big bed that he asked Santa for. Needing some ideas, I asked him what other gifts he would like from Santa. He shrugged his shoulders and said "Whatever he brings me". 

We have our first celebration this evening with Drew's parents. The end of the week will be very busy. I'm looking forward to a solid weekend with Shasta and family! Hopefully, the weather will stay nice and we can really do some fun things with our children that are growing up too fast. 
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The city Christmas parade was last Saturday. Griffin was thrilled to get to ride in the fire truck again alongside his best buddy Chase. We waited with the Hensleys on Main St for the longest parade in history. 

there are our brothers!

 

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Finally, this year's Christmas card was quite a project. What do you do when you no longer have Duke around to be in the family photo and "sign" the inside of the card? Especially, when you still haven't had a non-crying day since his passing. The past 9 years of cards have had the exact same theme. I couldn't move on without some kind of closure, in hopes that next year I can turn a new leaf. So I created a sad, but fulfulling card to send out. It was fairly easy to gather all of the photos. Especially, since he provided me the perfect one for the back of the card the night BEFORE we said goodbye. Griffin and I were on the swing set and he came to sit in front of us and survey the land as he always did.

We drive by Duke's grave often, to talk to him and make ourselves feel better by thinking he can hear us. One night Griffin rolled his window down and yelled "Hi Bubba" followed by a long pause, then he turned back into the vehicle and said in the smallest voice, "I really miss Duke"........... we all do so much. 

Coming to an art gallery near you.....

Griffin loves to draw/paint/color and use crayons/markers/playdough/etc. One night last week, he sat at the kitchen table and asked me to help him draw Santa. I was a terrible mom and denied him the attention he was asking for, too busy doing whatever I was working on at the time. He specifically asked me to come over and help him draw the eyes. 

It turns out, he didn't need my help after all. Later in the night I found this drawing on the table.....

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I feel proud and a little creeped out, all at the same time.

Chit chat with Santa

Go ahead and cross this year's Santa photo off the list.

We were in Springfield Sunday to have lunch with my Grandma, parents, and Shiloh/Chris so afterward we decided to run to the mall and get this task done before the holiday season makes the line an hour or more long. 

Griffin wasn't hesitant at all. Cooper could care less. 

Right off the bat Griffin asked:
"Where is Mrs. Clause?"  (see photo of hands open, in wonder)
"Where are  your reindeer?"
Santa explained they were all at the North Pole.

Griffin's requests for Santa included:
a lot of "diggers"
a combine
excavators
a crane truck
a roller
a cement mixer
a bulldozer
and a dump truck
.....he probably would have came up with more if we didn't pull him away.
 
I don't remember if this was the case in previous years, but I was able to download all of our photo choices from the website. I ended up buying the version where Cooper is smiling to go in the annual "picture with Santa" frame.

I'm glad this is done, with no tears shed. Next year might be a different story for Cooper baby.

They meet again........

I anticipated another interesting encounter with Santa this year. Griffin is still shy at first and I just knew no matter how much I talked up dear old Santa Claus, he would be a hard sell to just jump up on the lap. Last night we read a book about Santa and talked about how great he is, how he brings the best presents and is such a nice guy. 

Griffin was still talking about getting his picture taken with him when we rolled into Springfield and I was feeling more confident. Magically, when I started to pull into the mall parking lot his story changed to, "No Santa!". I, being mom of the year, just ignored him and hauled him inside. 

This was the end result:

It's no smile, but it's a step up from last year! He didn't last long in this awkward facial expression before the full purple face/mouth open/silent cry began and he was really making noise by the time I picked him up and let the next family move in. Santa did not get a hug or even told "bye" but he was happy and enjoying the sucker he was given by the time I got around to the register to pay. This year they also included online my other options that I had to choose from when buying prints. 

Santa happened to have one of his favs

this is a real winner

the lips started to pucker here.....

He's baaaaack!

We had a mommy/son day in Springfield last weekend. It was nice to get out and run a few errands: car cleaning, haircut for Griffin, a tiny bit of shopping at the mall. To our surprise, Santa was there ready to take pictures and listen to children's Christmas wishes. I was not prepared with a cutesy little outfit, but I had to go ahead and get it done when there was NO LINE. Last year we waited (for the same Santa, see blog posts tagged 'santa' for last year's photo) a little over an hour......Drew begged me to do it without him this time. The result was just what I expected of my little man.

Griffin is a little shy, but more so just needs a good 10 or 15 minutes to "warm up" to people. The young girl running the cash register for Santa asked me if I wanted to re-take the photo and try a different approach. Absolutely not! We love it. 

Santa!

We had quite a time on Saturday trying to meet Santa. The Bass Pro standby line for those without passes at specific times was 3 hours long. Drew didn't care where the Santa was from so we headed to the mall. After about an hour in line there (including a diaper change, in and out of the stroller, a bottle warming with a cup of hot water from the cookie place) we FINALLY got our turn. He was a really nice old man in person but puts on his meanest face for the photos. Griffin didn't like or dislike him. He was just content like usual. Already looking forward to what next year might bring!