Happy 11 days til Christmas! And if you are like me, it’s more like “Oh farts, it’s only 11 days til Christmas which means I have like 9 days to find and identify presents for everyone over the age of 3 and I have zero ideas…TIME TO PANIC”.

Anywho…

This past weekend, we did the big event.

We took the children to meet the big guy. The Claus. The Santa Claus. Growing up, my family always did a “Breakfast with Santa” at this local restaurant, it was festive, it had good waffles, it was a nice little joint for me to publicly freak out over a sweaty stranger in a fleece suit and force my brother to read him my Christmas list…I think I secretly just wanted to hear him say “Puppy Surprise with at least 3 puppies” in public.

We’d been trying to talk to Luke a bit about Santa…but then the conversation quickly turns to demanding one of us pretend to be Blaze or Chick Hicks and we lose the moment quickly. But on Sunday, he knew…today he was meeting Santa…after a quick live nativity at church, rough day.

 

He had the new haircut. The plaid pants. The letter was well crafted (in my own humble, personal opinion)…it was go time….well…for one of them.

I don’t know why…but I just assumed Emma…the one year old…would find him jolly and entertaining. A nice guy, with a vibrantly red outfit, and a face hiding behind fake white hair…she’d cackle at that for sure.

… maybe next year?…maybe next year he will also say our name right…

If she could fly…she woulda sprung wings and flown off his lap. I haven’t heard this type of scream since she discovered the sound of duct tape being pulled off of a table…(this is also fear inducing). Or the sound of the gate opening where Luke had Soccer Bugs…but this guy? The guy with the cute seals for a present if you’d just sit on his lap for 1 second? We got ALL of the stares.

On the way home, Luke dictated that Santa had funny face hair and that he was now his best friend. Gracie has now been bumped down some pegs by a guy Luke just met who gave him a white polar bear and listened to him talk about orange hot wheels tracks. Sorry dog.

All in all, it was a joyous, 70 degree festive day here in Virginia. After this, we went to the park…in shorts and t shirts…WHERE DO I LIVE?!

Seriously though, this event at Landsdowne was amazing and way better than waiting 3 hours at a mall. All you can eat brunch, a really pretty santa, toys for the kids, and no one arrests you when your child screams bloody murder. Check it out next year, but don’t all check it out so that I don’t get a reservation…because I am going EVERY year.