Ho Ho Ho

Oh this gem! No one likes a good crying Santa picture more than me. haha It is just a right of passage. Today after preschool we went to visit Santa at the Village thinking it would be the perfect time. He was supposed to arrive at noon and we got there at 11:45. The line was already wrapped clear around a giant Christmas tree and half an ice skating rink. That right there should have told us to run but we had the kids all dressed up and excited to see him so we thought, now or never. Joke was on us! Two and a half hours later we got this gem ................. 

You may be asking yourself, why in the WORLD did you wait that long in that line ... here's the thing ... after you've been in said line for close to an hour and have moved significantly closer to the front, there just is no way of backing out. Especially if it just means coming back another day and getting stuck at the back of the line over again. Luckily I brought a container of mini m&m's, a baggie full of goldfish, a couple library brooks, and a toy remote to tide them over. Here's how it went ... Lyla squirming in Nic's arms and giving the cutest scrunchy faces ...

And Liam, wandering around aimlessly with his bag of goldfish in tow! haha

My bag of tricks didn't last all that long. By the time we got to this point and saw this sign, I remember mentioning to Nic about how I hoped it wouldn't be another hour from that point and he laughed and said I think that sign is meant for the back of the line and they just haven't moved it yet today. WRONG-O!!! That sign was in fact 30 minutes behind the mark. Santa's house right in front of us and it was still another hour and a half. haha Heaven help us all! The line looked deceiving because it was often one parent waiting in line and as they got close the rest of the family would join with multiple kids.

Love these two SO much!!

Santa's cute little gingerbread house ...

When we finally got inside, Liam immediately became shy and didn't want to have anything to do with Santa. I handed Lyla over to him and she burst into tears. haha Several screaming pictures later we finally got one where Lyla was just giving a pouty lip and Liam warmed up to Santa and bravely told him he wanted "super hero legos for Christmas"! Ho Ho Ho!