So we went to see Santa Claus. We had an entire discussion with Henry about the meaning of Christmas, Santa, and the presents. That's a tricky discussion. Especially when you've got a 2-year-old and an attention span that doesn't last more than about 10 seconds at a time.
The gist of our discussion was this: birthdays are special, which is why you get presents. [Henry now breaks out in his rendition of "Happy Birthday"] Christmas is especially special (huh?); it's Jesus' birthday. ["JESUS!" Henry adorably exclaims with excitement.] In fact, His birthday is SO special that everyone gets presents. ["Ooooo... presents!"] And if you were a good boy this year, Santa will deliver an extra present on Christmas to help you celebrate Jesus' birthday. [Confused look.] And he lives in the North Pole, but since you don't really understand geography, we'll skip those details this year. But he delivers the present by flying [eyes light up immediately] in his sleigh which is pulled by reindeer [eyes now look confused again]. And then he lands on your roof [I point to the ceiling], comes down the chimney [which I again identify by pointing], and puts your present right there under the tree....
"No, Mama, I DON'T WANT IT!" Henry says with a completely terrified look on his face.
We calmly explain that it's totally normal for an old man to come down your chimney and deliver presents, and it's not scary at all. Based on the look he gave us, I don't think he bought it. But we continued to talk up Santa, the elves, presents, the excitement of Christmas, etc. And then we announced that Santa won't bring the presents unless Henry visits him and tells him what he wants for Christmas so he can go home and place an order with the elves. He seemed excited, so I thought the Santa visit might actually be thrilling (as opposed to terrifying, like it was in 2012). The whole way to the mall, Henry kept talking about receiving presents and toys, he sang "Jingle Bells," and basically skipped in to see Santa.
And then our turn came to see Santa. Henry got within 5 feet of him and said, "NO, NO, NO! I DON'T WANT IT!" Please note this is a common phrase in our household lately. He wanted nothing to do with Santa or with the cute rocking horse Santa offered. So Paul and I shrugged, warned Santa that he may have to clutch on to a screaming 2-year-old, and handed Walter over to try and talk some sense into Henry. Walter was completely mesmerized by Santa. I'm convinced he was concocting a plan on how to grab his beard and attempt to chew on it (since we're chewing on everything lately). As soon as Walter was contentedly seated, Henry looked from Walter-to-Santa-to-Walter-to-Santa-to-Walter-to-Santa. We grabbed Henry, threw him in Santa's lap, ran behind the camera, and managed to capture this:
Is this perfect or what? I could just die from the adorableness. Yes, they're my children so I'm totally biased, but I cannot imagine ever looking at this and not just melting from the inside out. I love these boys.
And I love that Henry now has photos will the same Santa three years in a row.
Our Santa has been so patient every single year, and managed to name every single Thomas the Train character and hold an entire discussion with Henry after we took our photo this year. So if you need a Santa, I highly recommend this one!
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