A Visit with Santa..

 Last year was the first year Jackson really got into Santa and I was bummed that I never took him to see him, so this year I wasn't going to make that same mistake twice. Being friends with "Santa" made it easy to plan a special visit to our house. Jackson had no idea Santa would be visiting this night. All he knew was that his friends were coming over for dinner. When I knew Santa was close we gathered all the kids into our family room to calm them down a bit and not a minute later he came walking right through the front door. Jackson was so excited as you can tell by him being the first one off the floor and running over to greet Santa. I am surprised Jackson even let him past the front door he was so mesmerized by Santa being at our house.

 Once Santa made it past the front entry way, he sat on the couch and called up each individual child to sit on his lap. To make this a more memorable and real Santa experience I had all the moms give me a short sentence about their child for the year that Santa could memorize it and know exactly what to say to get the kids attention (Example: Jackson played his first season of soccer, he started preschool and is loving it but he needs to listen to his parents and be nice to his brother if he wants Santa to come with presents) I am sure the kids didn't think twice about it, but it was cute to see them all answer Santa's questions and watch how excited they were that Santa knew them. Look at little Andersen sitting so patiently on the floor too!

 I think Andersen's attention span only last a few minutes. Jackson on the other hand sat in the same spot the entire time listening and responding to every thing Santa would say, even if it was for another kid.

 Then finally it was his turn! He hopped right up on his leg

 and listening so intently to every word Santa had to say.

 I hope this was a night Jackson won't forget anytime soon and hopefully we can make it a tradition for our kids. As parents we definitely enjoyed every  minute of it, Andersen on the other hand was just fine looking at Santa from afar. What a fun night to start off the Christmas season. Too bad Santa can't stay around forever so I have constant leverage over my children to do what I ask!

 After Santa had left the adults continued to talk while the kids played. All of parents didn't even realize they were gone until it suddenly got quiet in the family room. As we searched for the trouble makers we found them in our bed watching a movie they had turned on all by themselves. They looked so cute that it was hard to be upset over the sugary pieces of gum drops they took from the candy bowl and left in our sheets.