Santa Claus is Coming to Town...Again and Again

Santa's First Time Coming to Town...
We went to the annual lighting of the Christmas tree at the outlet mall in El Paso, where Santa makes a grand entrance and does the countdown for the tree lighting each year. This year, while waiting for Santa to arrive, all of the children were invited onto the stage for a dance contest, where the winner would win a $10 gift card to the mall. Jaden got a sudden burst of courage and asked if he could go up on the stage to dance. He was so cute up there dancing his little heart out, and was thrilled when they announced that all of the kids on stage won the contest and would all get a $10 gift card to the mall. While the kids were still on the stage, Santa arrived in a beautiful sports car and the US Marines were lined up at the entrance to the stage so that Santa could make his grand entrance through their lineup and onto the stage. Jaden happened to be standing right at the edge of the stairs, and by the time Santa was headed up there, I could barely see him anymore, but I could imagine that he was either having a minor panic attack at the close proximity of Santa, or was thrilled beyond belief. And as the crowd began to sit back down, I could see that Jaden was anxiously awaiting his turn to talk to Santa. It was a very fun opportunity for him, and even got to help with the countdown to the lighting of the Christmas Tree!

Jaden's at the edge of the stairs in the brown and green jacket, waiting for Santa to arrive.

They had fake snow falling, which was actually bubbles of some sort. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!

We concluded with hot cocoa and cookies!

Santa's Second Time Coming to Town...
It's amazing how Santa can be in so many places at one, all throughout the month of December. Our second time seeing Santa was at the Railroad Museum. It started raining, so we went inside to keep warm and missed his arrival on the train, but still got to see him later.

Santa's Third Time Coming to Town...
Our third time seeing Santa was an unexpected surprise! We went to see my Grandma's Christmas choir performance, which is always a treat (Grandma's the adorable lady sitting in the front row). Jaden had commented that one of the gentlemen in the choir looked like Santa. I admit that he did, but told Jaden that that wasn't really something he should keep announcing! And at some point during the performance (must have been while we were on a potty break), "Santa" left the group. And what a surprise it was while we were jammin' to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," to see Santa enter through the back doors with Mrs. Claus, both wearing the most beautiful, authentic looking Santa costumes I've ever seen, and handing out candy canes to everyone! It was wonderful. Then Santa took his place back up on the stage with the choir, and Jaden gasped and said "I knew that was Santa!" We were sure to find him after the performance for a photo op. And when we were leaving, Jaden wanted to get a good look at the building rooftop because he was sure Santa would be up there getting ready to fly off with his reindeer and he didn't want to miss it. Right away I noticed Santa helping Mrs. Claus into their white Honda. So I had Jaden looking up, down, over...anywhere I could to distract him until Santa drove away. Didn't want to ruin the magical moment for him.

Holiday Season Part 3: Letters from Santa

After visiting Santa at the mall, the boys were surprised with letters from Santa that came in the mail, straight from the North Pole! Fortunately for Jaden, he can't read yet so he doesn't know that the envelope reads El Paso, TX as the place they were sent from - thanks to our real-life secret Santa's, Nana and Papa!

Elijah was napping when the mail arrived, but I just couldn't wait to share Jaden's with him. I knew he'd appreciate it more than Elijah would anyway. He's at that awesome age where this is all so magical and exciting to him, which you can clearly see in his facial expressions in the pictures!

Santa must know how much he loves stickers!

He was so proud of his letter! The most surprising part for him was when Santa mentioned one of his buddy's names in the letter. As I read it to him, he gasped and looked up at me in disbelief and couldn't wait to tell his friend Seth that Santa said "hello."

The adorable letters and stickers that a very thoughtful and loving Mr. and Mrs. Nana and Papa Clause sent.

Holiday Season Part 2: Pictures with Santa

I was so excited when Jaden actually said "yes" to taking pictures with Santa this year! We were already out and about; otherwise I would have planned outfits that were a little more Christmas-y. But I didn't want to risk Jaden changing his mind if we decided to wait and do it another day, so we just went for it. And of course when we got there, all of the other little kids were all done up in their adorable Christmas outfits, down to the detail, and hair perfectly combed - as you can see by the picture, we obviously didn't have a comb to fix Elijah's hair and spit just wasn't doing the trick. Oh well, they're adorable anyway! And they both willingly sat with him (and later cousin Aubrey joined them) without a single tear!

Funny Story: As we were getting out of the car in the parking lot at the mall, I saw a rather homely looking, white bearded older man walking into the mall. I jokingly whispered to Sam that he just might be Santa. And just as we got in line for our pictures, the current Santa was getting up to "take a break." About 15 minutes later, lo and behold, the parking lot Santa arrives and takes over the job! Good thing he cleans up well! He turned out to be a very nice looking Santa I thought.

Getting Ready for Santa

Children definitely make Christmas incredibly special. They bring a whole new meaning to the season. I've always heard others comment about how magical it is to see Christmas through the eyes of a child, and getting to really experience that this year was one of the highlights of the holidays. This is the first year that Jaden really got into the concept of Christmas, gift giving, Santa, and the whole thing! It was so much fun to experience his excitement and joy, as well as his insistence on sharing that excitement with his baby brother.

Unlike past years, we could not put any presents under the tree before Santa came for fear that it would confuse and ruin the excitement when Santa did come. (And even though we made sure that not everything came from Santa because we wanted Jaden to be appreciative to us and others for the gifts he received, it didn't matter in the end -- Santa got all the credit, even thought we did get "Thank you's".

And the night before Christmas was so much fun...the milk and cookies, looking up at the sky to see if we saw Santa yet, encouraging Jaden to go to bed so that Santa would come...it was all so fun! And I will never forget Jaden's excitement as he sat on the couch in his jammies, just waiting, and excitedly announced, "I cannot wait to see Santa's reindeer and Santa's belt." He really thought he was going to get to meet the guy that night, and maybe, just maybe, get to pet his reindeer. Oh to be so young and innocent...

Santa's Arrival at the Train Station

I'm super late again on posts, but things have been busy, busy, busy around here, as they tend to be around this time of year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the beginning of a happy, healthy New Year! I had a very blessed holiday, surrounded by friends, family, and the two most precious little guys in my life! And I don't want to miss out on posting about our wonderful holiday moments together, so here's is the beginning of several holiday posts.

On December 4, we experienced a wonderful Las Cruces tradition at the Railroad Museum. Santa arrived at the station aboard a holiday decorated Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad diesel engine! It was the most fun experience! And watching Jaden's face as he waited in anticipation was priceless! Santa was available for pictures after his arrival, but Jaden was not feeling that brave, so he settled for a candycane from Santa's helper instead. Then we took a tour of the station, listened to a bell choir, and got to see tons and tons of model trains. It was a wonderful start to our family holiday festivities!