visiting santa

 

we have stayed on top of our advent calendar this year and friday was our trip to visit santa. of course, as we got ready to go, i realized that my kids had nothing cute to wear, so we had to make a quick stop at target for something. then, we were off to the mall, that we never go to except specifically at this time of year, to see santa.

as always, elijah was a giant turd burger the whole way through the line. the boy has no patience what so ever. he rolled on the floor, kept touching people and their stuff, screamed because he wanted to ride the train that kept passing by, and just overall was a pain in the ass.

but when it was finally our turn, he couldn't have put on the charm any better. the kid knows not to act up in front of santa. he basically carried on a full conversation with him that no one but elijah could understand. and when he was done and we bought our overpriced $20 photo, he went back to acting his rotten self.

originally, mackenzie wasn't going to be in the photo. it was just supposed to be a photo with the littlest ones. ryan and jacob weren't with us and mackenzie has proclaimed that she is past the age of lap sits with santa. she wasn't even dressed to sit with him, but santa called her over. we couldn't very well say, "sorry santa, we don't want her in the photo"! you just don't argue with santa!

but overall, i was happy with the photo and we knocked out another day on our advent calendar.

 joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram

visitng santa 2011

real quick... 

if you missed it yesterday, i made it to the top 30 in the paper mama's holiday photo challenge. i really want to make it to the top 10, so if you don't mind, i would love to get your vote. but, only if you want to. 

 

click here to head over and vote. i am #4. thanks so much!

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it was actually last week when we took elijah, phoenix, and tyler to see santa. jason was off work on that friday so we headed to the mall to make an in store exchange for some clothes i ordered for mackenzie and actually considered not even letting him go see santa. 

elijah tends to be scared of strangers. he won't even look at them if they talk to him, even if i am holding him. so i figured there was no way he was going to let some freak in a red suit get near him. i mean, if you take the whole santa thing out of the situation, the idea of sitting your child on a strange man's lap is a bit creepy. but there was hardly anyone in the line, so we jumped in and headed up to see him. 

we walked up, waited like two minutes, then santa called elijah up and he went right up and sat in his lap. afterwards, santa leaned over handed elijah a coloring book and told him to tell his mommy and daddy he loves them every day. 

the best part is when santa said that, elijah immediately ran back to me and hugged me as tight as he could. i have to say, i got a little tear in my eye. 

we took phoenix and tyler a couple days later. tyler has no fear of anything so i knew she would be okay, and i knew that phoenix would have issues with her shyness, but i had no idea that she would nearly have a panic attack was we got closer to santa. a couple times she told me she was scared. you can definitely see the worry on her face in the photo. 

and i think that from now on, it will be a tradition to pull out elijah's first santa photo and have a good laugh. so here is that too.

 

linking up with all the other santa photos over at the haps.


joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

santa clause is coming to town! (check these out)

a few years ago i spilled the beans to mackenzie about santa and the easter bunny. we were actually on our way to an easter party at a friend's house and i was just fed up. 

let me explain...

mackenzie is THE world's nosiest human. i pulled my hair out for years trying to keep secrets and sneak around trying to play santa, the tooth fairy, and the easter bunny. even trying to go somewhere by myself is close to impossible because the child is afraid she will miss out on something or suspects something is up. i even made up a stupid lie one time about how parents are given a secret manual to read when their first baby is born. they have until it is time to leave the hospital to read the manual and memorize the phone numbers to the tooth fairy, santa, and the easter bunny. then, the manual is shredded. 

how freaking lame is that story?

so, one day, when she had pushed my buttons to the limit and i was just absolutely sick of all the sneaking and excuses, question after question, and doubt after doubt, i snapped and screamed, 

"i'm santa!"

i know, bad mom, but i promise you it was absolutely annoying!

then i threatened her life if she even considered ruining it for her brothers and sisters. they totally believe! especially phoenix and tyler. and as terrible as it sounds that i ruined santa for mackenzie, i really wanted her to believe.

this year, we have upped the believability factor by doing a few new things. we will keep santa alive and hopefully keep their behavior in line. here are a few things you can do with your children too.

portable north pole - this is a free site that lets you create a naughty or nice video for your child. you basically plug in your child's name, a couple of photos, and some other information and it creates a personalized video from santa to your child. we chose to create naughty child videos in an effort to encourage better behavior in phoenix and tyler.

but, for the record, they really have been awful this year! 

elf on the shelf - almost everyone has heard of this little guy. this is our first year trying this out but so far the kids are excited to have "jimmy" the elf come and visit us. the website allows you to register your elf as well as some other activities.

the santa video - this is another one that allows you to upload a photograph of your home and create a video that appears as if santa has really visited your home. great evidence for those kids who are borderline non-believers. 

be sure to check these out and add a little fun and "good behavior" to your holiday season. 


joni - sixcherriesontop (at) gmail (dot) com | twitter | facebook | pinterest | instagram: mamacherry

santa claus is coming to town

and i sure do hope he brings phoenix and tyler some new listening ears.

i'm not sure what size ears they wear, but he can go ahead and leave XL ears so we can be sure that they hear me when i tell them to stop jumping on the bed, climbing on the kitchen counters, squirting all of the soap out in the sink, and trying to pick up their baby brother who weighs the same as they do.

and if he doesn't leave them ears, he better leave me a cage to lock them up!

tmmapc | christmas past

christmas 2009

i love this photo of elijah. we were at the christmas parade, it was cold, and he was my santa baby.  he wasn't sure if he liked this hat or not!

go check out everyone else's photos of christmas past over at hi, baby.

the paper mama's photo challenge - holiday colors

the first color i think of at christmas is red. no matter what other colors you have, i personally believe you have to have red.

hop on over to the paper mama and join the fun!

walmart: always low...standards?

i have been waiting to share this all week. every time i look at elijah's santa photo from last year, it makes me laugh.

the last couple of years, walmart has offered a free photo with santa.  we always take the kids to see santa at the mall and always take the pictures ourselves. however, if someone is going to give me something for free, then i am all over it.

i had seen the santa several times that first year but had already taken my kids to see our mall santa, and didn't discover i could have gotten a free pic. until it was too late.

so last year i was prepared. someone had mentioned it early, i marked the date on my calendar and we hopped in the car that day to visit jolly old saint nick.

apparently walmart had lowered their santa standards from the previous year because what we discovered was more like santa's drunken brother from another mother.

christmas 2009, elijah's first christmas

i understand this man certainly can't help the way he looks. i am not complaining about him for everyday appearances, but this is santa for goodness sakes, and i am sure that this is not the man children envision when they think of santa claus.

however, elijah didn't know any better, so of course i had to capture this memorable moment and still get my free photo. 

then we quickly hopped back in the van and drove our butts over to the mall.

i am entering this photo in hi, baby's santa photo challenge. it's also a giveaway, so dig out your santa photos and come link up!

updated 12/15/10:

you can also link up your santa photos here over at harper's happenings.