Our Santa Visit

As always, my mom and I took the kids to see Santa at Fair Oaks mall. Just look at him ~ he is the epitome of what everyone thinks of when they think "Santa Claus". He is really nice too and very patient with the children, even when they are screaming. He really makes you wonder if he is the real Mr. Claus. Every year, the mall display is decked out in a movie theme. This year it is Happy Feet! Such a great movie, from what I've heard, and it makes a wonderful display.

We got there just as it was time for Santa to go feed his penguins, as we had planned to do. Santa's break lasts 45 minutes. The display yields a wonderful opportunity to get some beautiful shots of the kids. With Oma in tow, bathroom breaks are easy as well. There was probably about 8 or 10 families in front of us. When we got in line, we were perfectly positioned in front of the large quantities of poinsettias. We got quite a few great pictures of the kids together and individually. Mrs. Claus and an elf came through to give the children crayons, paper and other little goodies for standing in line so well.

Santa returned and the line moved up some. We then came upon some really cool Happy Feet displays. The kids were checking them out and I got more fun pictures.

After a few minutes, we got to go in the human snow globe. It's this beautifully decorated globe with "real" snow. The snow is made from rice for kids like Jenna and Jacob who like to eat it. It falls down on top of everyone and looks like real snow.

Finally, after about an hour from first stepping into line, we get to Santa. Jordan, James and Jasmine go up with no problems. Jenna is upset in Jordan's arms. He's usually in charge of holding her in pictures. He does so well. Jacob isn't so sure about this big guy but he goes up anyway. The kids are all talking to him, telling them what they want and we get a beautiful picture, even though Jenna is obviously upset in it.

The overall experience was great. The kids were great in line. Other parents and grandparents were commenting on how great they were and the usual "Are they all yours?" kind of questions were asked.

Afterwards, Oma took the kids to Build-A-Bear to get outfits for their Frosty the Snowmen Build-A-Bear that Oma got them last year when we visited Santa.