A Ripe Jolly Old Elf

And he really was a sweet old man!  Legitimate beard, legitimate wrinkles.  We were told he was a great Santa with a nice backdrop and free/cheap picture packages.  So that's where we went.

Along with the rest of Katy on that Sunday afternoon.  A one-hour line to meet Santa.  Next year I'll come up with a better plan, I promise.  So Daddy took the kids around the store to kill time, and we chatted about what our requests would be.  And yes, I'd vetted the requests in advance.

I honestly wasn't sure that Annabelle was going to willingly go meet him, and was confident that she would not verbalize her request to him.  I had asked Sam to speak on her behalf if she grew mute.  He was ready.  He was confident.  He was goal-oriented.

But it turns out that our little girl had been listening to us about the importance of delivering a request to Santa, and had started to put all of the pieces together regarding the role he plays in this whole Christmas thing.  When placed on his lap, she clearly articulated that she would like "Frozen Toys."  Sam requested "a build your own robot kit."

Throughout the month Annabelle asked lots and lots of questions about our friend from the North Pole.  She really wanted to understand where he lives, how he travels, who Rudolf is, etc.  It was sweet to explain it to her, and sweeter to watch Sam do the same.

Sam has decided the Santa only travels by sleigh/reindeer on Christmas eve.  He takes a plane to visit the stores and the kids ahead of time.  He also told us yesterday that Santa is in the "materials gathering" stage of planning for next year's gift making.

Annabelle how refers to Bass Pro Shop as "Santa's Store."  We have to explain to her when we drive past that we can't visit him today, he has gone back to the North Pole.

These are the "prime magic years," and an hour long wait is totally worth it when I get to see them playing these things out in their growing brains for weeks and weeks afterwards.