Christmas Eve-Pictures with Santa

Our December has been crazy.  We moved the first weekend, but didn't even get everything.  We attempted to get settled and move more on the second weekend.  It was our birthdays the third weekend and then before we knew it, it was Christmas.

I did get our trees up, and even decorated our new mantel.  That is about all that got done in the Christmas department.  I had a list of things I wanted to do with Olivia, but unpacking (while pregnant and constantly needing breaks) took over much of my time.

We knew we wanted to take her to see Santa.  Our options were Sunday the 22nd or Christmas Eve.  We decided to go on Christmas Eve, hoping that most people would still have to work.  Of course, this was not the case.  The line was super long.  Michael stood while Olivia and I went and ate.  By the time we got back he was pretty close.

We had been prepping her all morning.  I didn't think she'd have an issue with him, because she has been good around dressed up characters lately (Curious George, Clifford, etc).  Thankfully I was right!

She knew who he was and was pretty excited to be seeing him.  The issue was getting her to look at the camera and smile!

She has this little piece of skin hanging on her lip and every once in a while she starts picking at it.  That's what she decided to do in this moment.  Not the best timing, but she's not screaming bloody murder so I guess we'll take it! :)

We had to prep her a bit on the "asking for what you want" bit.  If you asked her what she wanted she would say, "I don't know".  So we started giving her options.  All things she was already getting, of course. :)  She decided she wanted a cat.  Perfect.  She was getting a toy cat.  But then she decided that since purple is her favorite color that it needed to be a purple cat.  OK.  So that's what she told him when he asked.  Then she laughed at herself.

She was thrilled to get a candy cane at the end too.  She keeps talking about sitting on Santa's lap, getting a treat, and telling him she wanted a purple cat. :)

After the pictures we decided to go out and take a quick peek at the huge tree.  She is in love with Christmas trees, so we told her she was going to get to see the biggest tree she has ever seen.

While we were there we took a quick look at the nativity and the trains.  It was SO cold though, and her legs were practically bare with those thin tights so we just stayed a minute.

Overall our outing wasn't too bad.  We had to wait about an hour and a half to 2 hours to see Santa.  We probably won't be going on Christmas Eve again, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do! :)