Santa

A recap of last night's Campo Adventures...

We had planned on taking the kids to see Santa tonight, but on a whim we decided to forgo our favorite {incredibly populated mall} and headed to Westminster Mall last night.  

The kids were totally fine with it being a different mall, and they were completely excited to see Santa for their very first time.  Caleb told us he was going to ask him for a new marble game and a spinning toy, and Lilly said she wanted him to bring her a Zarina doll {she thought he was going to give it to her right then, so we had a lot of story-telling to do about Santa}.  

The mall wasn't busy in the least, we came upon Santa right where we entered, and there were maybe eight families in front of us.

I had to tell them the routine of how this sort of thing goes down.

First, say hello.  Then, tell him what you want.  Last, we take a picture.

And that's when Lilly got anxious.  She didn't want a picture.  She didn't want the huge flash.  And instead of telling her to suck it up {which would've produced not one but two crying kids}, I politely asked the attendant if we could attempt a photo sans flash.  They were more than willing to help!  

After about 20 minutes of waiting, it was our turn.

Caleb ran with GUSTO to greet him.  He hopped right in his lap and already had his cheese face on.

Lilly didn't want to be put down.  She wanted to say hi, but in the arms of her daddy.  And so TJ did what any great father would do, and quickly sat next to Santa with her on his lap.  And so, while we didn't plan it, we all jumped in the picture together.

The attendant unplugged the flash and took a few quick photos...that were completely black {if you don't use a flash, you have to change your settings on the camera...I know this, but the girl pushing the camera button didn't know...}.  So she quickly plugged the flash back in, took one quick shot, and we came out with this.

Not everyone looking, but everyone smiling.

As the kids were saying goodbye, Santa grabbed my hand.  He leaned in close to tell me that he's a part of a program called Caring Santa {for special needs families, which I know about} and he spends as much time as he wants with families.  We had to miss it this year, because of Navy work, so this was the next best thing.  But also, how did he know?  Was it that obvious?  Sometimes I think we're fooling everyone in this Autism-game, and other days I feel like the whole world must know.  Whatever the reason, it doesn't really matter, because he was a sweet Santa who made my kids smile.

As I was paying for our photos, the attendant gave us an extra set of 5x7s for TJ's military service, and mentioned again about the Caring Santa program.  

Overall I'd say it was an excellent first-time-visiting-Santa-experience.  

Merry Christmas!