We predicted well in advance of our visit to Santa that Nora would be less than thrilled about the whole thing. Still, we decided that for the sake of tradition, we would trek to the mall to give it a whirl.
We set out to arrive at the mall right at 10:00, when Santa begins seeing little ones on the weekends. Imagine our surprise when we got there to find an enormous line had already formed. I guess everyone had the same strategy as we did–ugh. But we were there, Nora was dressed up, we figured it wasn’t going to get any better between now and Christmas, and Nora was being pretty patient, so we stuck it out.
Thirty minutes later, it was our turn, and… it was over in the blink of an eye.
Nora was not impressed. In fact, she tried to dive right off of the big man’s lap. This would be her reaction to being sat in the lap of any stranger (or anyone who is not Mommy or Daddy, really), so it actually went exactly as we had anticipated. We definitely weren’t going to try to force the poor kid to sit there, so we did the only thing we could do–especially after waiting half an hour in line.
Michael posed in the picture with her. HAHAHAHA. (Notice she still looks miserable.)
Thankfully, Santa said that Nora was still on his nice list, so at least she won’t get coal in her stocking. And we have our fingers crossed that things will go a little more smoothly next year. Stranger danger, be gone!
(Check out our girl meeting Santa for the first time last year. It was decidedly less dramatic.)
Did you like going to see Santa as a kid? I’ll admit that I completely understand the aversion to him–he is a little scary, if you think about it from a kid’s point of view. If you have children, have you taken them to see Santa Claus? How have they reacted?
4 Responses to Hasta la vista, Santa
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About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
Wow, it is amazing to see the difference in Nora in a year!
Aw, Nora, it’s okay, I’m still a little scared of Santa :)
When my boy was about 18 months old I took him to see Santa. He kind of stared at him then stiffened up his body and just slid right off his lap, no real expression or anything. He was like, “I’m all set with this see you later!”
Awww! Such a cute pic! My girl is 7 weeks old. I took her to visit Santa and it went really well. Couldn’t get her to smile but there weren’t any tears. Not looking forward to next year though!
We were second in line this year (arrived 20 minutes before Santa). They had a camera problem and that gave me time to talk with one of Santa’s helpers. I asked if she had any advice and she said, “Back him in.” So, my almost 15 month old didn’t realize he was sitting with Santa because I held him facing me and set him down while keeping him focused on me. In part, we got lucky, but I think it helped that he thought he was just in a big chair looking at mom and dad acting silly. After the photos were taken I went to pick him up and Santa had started talking to him and he looked at Santa and his little lip began to quiver. Wonder what age two will bring next year.