Success!

Well, after 4 tries at seeing Santa (and sitting on his lap for a picture), we finally succeeded tonight!

The girls got to see Santa at Brad's Christmas party for work. They have a fun tradition of reading the Christmas story to all the kids and then while they sing Jingle Bells, Santa comes out and passes out gifts to the kids. Mallory was still a little young (and way freaked out) last year, so this was our first year to participate. It was a hit! I think it helped (her, not us) that her gift was almost the last one picked up. She had a lot of time to stare at him and watch the other kids. When he called her name, she walked right up to him, turned around for a picture and told him "thank you".

Yesterday, we spent the day celebrating Morgan and finishing up some Christmas shopping. We tried Santa at our mall 2 different times and each time he was on a break! So, we made the trek to the next closest mall. We were talking it up and Mallory was super excited. But, all of that changed when she got within of foot of the guy. She would not sit on his lap (and he didn't do a great job at trying to get her there) and barely even stood next to me while I sat on the edge of the chair. So, mom was in the picture with Santa. Not exactly what I had envisioned forking over $15 for...so, we took our rubber ducky reindeer and continued shopping!!

We were really proud of Mallory tonight. She was a little timid at first, but after a couple of minutes, she got the nerve up to stand by Santa. Then, he slowly picked her up and put her in his lap while she talked to him. And, even more of a bonus, she smiled for the picture!! Morgan of course sat in his lap without any problem. No smiles from her, but she wasn't nervous or scared...just more curious about the hair growing out of his face!

Waiting...and waiting...and waiting. I think we are done with small bows on Morgan's head. After our trip to the doctor this morning, we found out her head is in the 90th percentile...I think you can tell!!

Our neighbors came to see Santa also! Mallory is obsessed with them. One of my new year's resolutions is to reach out more to our neighbors. It was 2 years before we finally met them!

A picture of the picture. With our laptop now, I don't have easy access to the scanner.