Santa 2011

It wasn't difficult to convince the boys to go see Santa at The Grove this morning. We talked about who Santa Claus is what he does during our drive there. George practiced his "Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas!" while James remained more subdued about it. When we arrived at Santa's workshop there was a short line but totally manageable for a mom of three. I just used the power I had at the time, such as threatening them that Santa might send one of his reindeers out to see what all the ruckus was about if they kept knocking over the poles that held up the velvet rope. Once greeted by one of the elves, James' first words to her after she said hello to him was "I want a marble game." From then on out that's about all he said to anybody who addressed him. "Hey, I want a marble game." "I want a marble game please." "But I want a marble game." Hopefully Santa heard loud and clear that James wants a marble game for Christmas.

Santa Claus at The Grove is a good-looking Santa. George was skeptical about sitting next to him at first, and I got slightly worried he might bail on the photo. But, I picked him up and sat him on the other side of James and he didn't protest much at all. Cash kept looking up at the lights, but hey, what can you expect from a 4-month old?
Here is last year's photo. It's fun to compare.

Santa looks exactly the same.