Santa Progress...

Ok so this is as good as it gets...and major progress.... Last night we visited Santa at in Hampton at Bass Pro...Let me take you down Santa lane....

Year one, Laura is 10 months old. She's an only child, but Rachel is due in two months. We dress her up, and we make the journey to Richmond VA to visit the Real Santa. The Real Santa is the same Santa thingy my parents would take me to every year... Once upon a time he was at Miller and Rhodes.... now that it's closed up and Broad Street = Ghetto, he is now at The Children's Museum....You can see Santa come down the chimney, speak to the snow princess, and then Santa calls you by name to sit in his lap for a photo and or video for a fee.(yes, there are many videos of me seeing Santa as a wee one) So year one goes wonderful.... Laura was the easiest baby ever, and we spent the day in Richmond and had a great photo with her all decked out with Santa.

Year two.... Laura is a year older, but almost two. Rachel is 10 months...We make the mistake of going to Richmond on a Saturday closer to Christmas and we end up waiting in line for freaking ever....Laura and Rachel are dressed in matching outfits, with their monograms on their dress, and I am excited to have a precious photo of my two little girls..... Once we get to Santa Laura freaks, and the picture is Laura begging for her life, and Rachel looking confused....The picture horrible....

Year three.... we forget going to Richmond, and this is the first year Bass Pro starts a Santa Land, in which they have a pretty nice looking Santa, free photo, etc. No snow princess but whatever... and Santa sure as heck doesn't know your name... but hey it's free... We visit Bass Pro probably everyweekend and even some during the week but my older two refuse to get near him... We get a million photos of Emily and Santa, but mine have full blown panic attatcks if they even see him from far away....We do however have a run in with a Santa at the Picture People who is able to get in a photo with my kids and my sisters kids and my kids keep it together for that...

Year four is the above result.... Instead of dressing the kids up, we go on a whim to Bass Pro, while the kids look their worst as we figure it wont even happen... Laura and Rachel team up and tell us they will do a photo but under no circumstances are they getting on his lap.... When it's our turn the kids freeze up, and say they will do it if we are there with them, resulting in a family Santa photo..... Laura and Rachel at least talk to him and shout what they want at him, and end up giving him a high five.... Emily plays is cool but is confused.

Maybe next year we can attempt Richmond....In the mean time we are doomed for cheap free photos at Bass Pro...