Breakfast With Santa

Because Abby and Isaac have been sooooo good this year, they received a special invitation to have breakfast with Santa at Nordstrom. Here is a picture of the little elf who invited us (Chris - in Santa hat), and our friends Henry, Sandra, and Jack. It has been quite a long time since I've experienced the magic of Christmas from a child's perspective. This is the first year that Abby has understood the whole Santa thing and it has been so much fun to watch. I made the mistake of telling her about the breakfast two days early, and it was all she could talk about... Santa told the children to wear their jammies to this special breakfast, so I decided to give Abby and Isaac their matching Christmas jammies a little early.

The morning was incredible. It started off with a delicious breakfast at tables decorated to look like presents. Here is a picture of Abby sucking on a knife (nice supervision, mom) after picking her way through her plate. After breakfast, the kids sang Christmas carols at the top of their lungs hoping that Santa would hear them and enter the room. There are not words powerful enough to describe the magic of the moment when Old Father Christmas and his wife walked through the doors. Abby's eyes grew 3 times their normal size, her body went rigid and a look of awe settled onto her face. I was trying to get her to keep singing or say hi to Santa or something, but all she could say (in an almost inaudible whisper) was, "Mommy, dat's Santa Cwause".

Isaac wasn't quite as impressed.

He preffered his carseat toys.

Abby begged me to bring our "Magic Key" so we could show Santa what it looked like. We don't have a chimney, so she wanted to be sure he would know where they key was on Christmas Eve.

After breakfast, the kids decorated cookies, bookmarks, and ornaments at different stations throughout the store.

And then, the moment of truth. This little girl who has been talking to Santa on the phone, writing him letters, and singing his songs non-stop for days, finally had the chance to sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She'd rehearsed what she was going to say over and over in the car on the way to the mall, she eagerly waited in line, and then...

SCREAMED when it was her turn. She insisted that I sit on Santa's lap too - so we did it together. Mrs. Clause was wonderful at making Abby feel at ease and she finally calmed down enough for Santa to say, "And what would this cute little girl like me to bring her for Christmas?"

Abby looked up at him with her big blue eyes, hesitated for just a moment and then (again with the nearly inaudible whisper) said, "I want a shovel." Santa was taken a bit off guard but recovered nicely by saying, "What would you do with a shovel?" Abby's answer, (a bit more confidence now) "Dig in the doot (dirt)".

Santa assured her that he and his elves would find her a nice new shovel for Christmas, Mrs. Clause handed her a candy cane, and another memory was created.

What a magical morning.