A Visit with Santa a.k.a Ho Ho

It's that time of year to make a visit to Santa and let him know our deepest wishes we want to discover wrapped under the Christmas tree. The twins, even after watching hours and hours of Christmas movies and cartoons, continue to call the old man "Ho Ho." When they first spotted the Jolly Ol' Elf they pointed and said "look mom... Ho Ho!"

While standing in line Dallin decided he didn't want to get his picture with Santa he just simply wanted to chat with the man and let him know he wanted Transformers for Christmas. After asking nicely he posed his cute Dallin pose and let me take a picture after all.

I also snapped a shot of their serious Transformer conversation.

Hannah has ALWAYS loved Santa...and why not? He's such a nice man who happens to bring her what she wants every year. Who wouldn't love that?
Now all through Dallin and Hannah's turns the twins watched very intently at a safe distance. When it came to be their turns I warned Santa of their typical behavior and expressed that I wasn't expecting a happy-smiley-Santa picture because I wasn't going to get it. Even after I told Kael and Koen that he had candy, they still cried and did their best to get away as fast as they could......not forgetting their candy of course! So Kael was up first!

I am SO impressed with this Santa! Not only did he look great, but he actually had a sense of humor and a great smile after nearly a month of dealing with all kinds of colorful children's personalities and moods. Koen just sat and cried while covering his face. He didn't take his hands away until we were far away from Santa.

Even after all this I did attempt, OH YES, the group shot! Santa had a firm grip on Koen and Hannah's job was to hold onto Kael. Seeing how all the kids are in the picture I consider this shot a success and plan on framing it and putting it on my mantle next to all the other pictures every year of Aidan and the twins crying in all their "Ho Ho" pictures.

Since I couldn't find the exact photo I wanted, probably because it's buried deep in the stuff we haven't unpacked from moving yet, this was the closest I could get. Seeing Aidan cry through his Santa visits, and then the twins, I figure it's gotta be genetic and then my mind brought me this mental image of this pic with me and my mom. This picture is me crying BEFORE I get placed in Santa's lap. The picture I will eventually find and hopefully post is of me screaming with a bright red face with both arms reaching out for my mom! LOL!

Now let me assure you I have no fear of the man today. My mom believed in Santa until the end and since then we have had presents mysteriously show up on our doorstep and tree.......so yes, I'm proud to say I STILL BELIEVE! Here's a cute shot of Jace who came out with us. Now this is a brave little 6 week old boy, enjoying his visit. He's even cheering himself on! :) GO JACE!