Santa Claus Is Coming to Town

As any new parents would be, we've been looking forward to Connor's first experience of sitting on Santa's lap. (The stand-in Santa at the nursery doesn't count!) A week ago, we heard the "real" Santa would be at a mall in a town north of us (where Grandma and Grandpa used to live). So we packed the boy up in his holiday gear and ventured out. However, we were disappointed to learn that we had just barely missed Santa, and he left one of his trusty elves behind to fill in for him. The elf just wouldn't do. His beard looked like it was made out of cotton balls. And the line was very long, and obviously not worth the wait. So the search was on again. A few days later, a friend told Mommy that Santa was going to be at a different mall this past weekend, a bit closer to home. So again, we packed the boy up and went on our merry way. As excited as he was (he just didn't know it) he fell asleep in the car on the way to the mall, but woke up once we got there. There was so much to see and take in for this first timer. And, as luck would have it, not only was Santa there, but the line to see Santa wasn't very long at all. Apparently not many people knew that Santa was at this other mall. As we stood in line, Connor's head was moving from side to side looking at everything there was to see. He took special interest in the colorful jack-in-the-box and the 6 month old baby in front of us. Once it was his turn to sit on the jolly old man's lap, he acted like a pro. He told Santa what he wanted for Christmas, then turned towards the camera for his mugshot.