Every year since Brianna was a baby, we have taken the children to meet Santa. And not just any Santa . . . we go to the same place to meet the same Santa every year. Now, my kids don't "believe" in Santa. In our house, he's a jolly character that they know is just for fun, but we still enjoy meeting him. Except . . . we don't.
The place we've always gone to meet Santa is at the mall. It's a 45 minute drive to deal with traffic, crowded parking, and lines only to get grossly overcharged for a picture and two minutes of Santa's time. Last year, the twins freaked out and wouldn't go near him. It made for a funny photo, but I told myself then that maybe we would reconsider our tradition next year.
I have a really hard time letting go of a tradition, but I had to be honest with myself and ask this question: If it's just stressing us out, why are we doing it? Half of the kids did not enjoy this outing last year. I did not enjoy this outing last year. The Hubs did not enjoy this outing last year because all he could think about was how much we paid for a dumb photo (ha!). I finally came to the conclusion that we needed to let the tradition go . . . and The Hubs agreed with me.
However, Brianna and Brenson's school offers Santa pictures each year for $5 as a fundraiser. In years past, the photo op has been during school hours, but we've paid to have Bri's photo taken (to support the fundraiser) and it's always been super cute. This year, they changed things up a bit and had Santa pictures available after school so entire sibling sets could get their photo together with Santa. Chris and I decided that instead of abandoning our tradition altogether, we would just change it up a bit and meet Santa at the school this year. It was closer (by a lot), cheaper (also by a lot), and we wouldn't have any crowds or lines to contend with.
Santa photos were on Tuesday, December 5th. After I picked the big kids up from school, I got everyone all ready and Chris got home just in time to go with us back to the school. I had talked to the little girls about Santa, showed them pictures, shared with them what happened last year, and they both acted very excited to meet him. I had high hopes for a good experience!
When we got to the school, there was one other student meeting Santa, but no line. Yay! Win already! However, as we approached where Santa was, Brecklyn started whimpering. When it was our turn to see Santa, I kind of groaned. I mean, could he look any less authentic? Then, the little girls decided they were not going to go anywhere near that man. Brooke said he was "creepy" (I'm not sure she was wrong), and Brecklyn completely melted down. We couldn't even get a crying photo because they would not go near him. Chris and I tried to talk to the girls, but they weren't having it. We decided to just leave because remember the part about letting go of traditions that just stress us out? Then, as we turned to leave, "Santa" said "give me a high five before you go". For whatever reason, that changed the girls' entire perspective on the situation, and they agreed to sit on either side of Brenson and Brianna for a photo.
You'd never really know that the twins were screaming and crying just seconds before this! BUT - I'm still super disappointed with the photo. I mean, I know Santa is fake, but does he have to look so fake? I hung the photo on our refrigerator, and Brooke would say "creepy Santa" every time she looked at it until I finally took it down.
I will say though, I still don't regret breaking our tradition of going to the mall!
2 comments:
I chuckled through this post! I agree with Brooke....that was a creepy Santa!
To our kids Santa is a jolly character as well, and our tradition has been to go see Santa only on a baby’s first Christmas. Our last Santa pic was last year and I love using those 4 pics as some of our Christmas decor!
Lol. So my Santa story is that my oldest HATED him and was so scared. The first year I had to sit on Santa’s lap with her and I really hate that picture. The second year, she wouldn’t even get close and was screaming like she was being kidnapped. So we stopped going until her school did a breakfast with Santa and then that’s where we would see him. Until. A few years ago when my 9 year old son still believed in Santa (we didn’t think he still did.) And Breakfast with santa was run by a different person, and it was a mess, and although we were up front of the Santa line, we got bumped by everyone who paid for a picture (they never had paid photos before) and our toddler started running a fever and melting down so we ditched out on seeing Santa. In the car my 9 year old was SO upset and we realized he still believed, so after we got home, my husband took him to the mall to see Santa, but they went just before Santa’s lunch break so it wasn’t busy. No photo, but he got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas. We now go to our new churches Breakfast with Santa, so Yay no lines or malls!!
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