25 Days of Christmas - Our Trip To See Santa

We take a yearly trip to our local mall to get the kids pictures taken with Santa. This is never a cheap trip. There is always a pretzel stick reward for the kids at the end. There is also a carousel ride. And then there is a headache that lasts until spring thaw.

I'll bet you didn't know that the North Pole had a Sears, did you?

Here's Noah, waiting ever-so-patiently.  Last year he cried... they took the picture anyway... I'm saving it for when his first girlfriend comes over.

And Jonathan is waiting nicely, as always.  In our house, Jonathan is the good kid and Noah is the one who will burn down the house if given the opportunity... and then he'll giggle about it.  I told Santa.

There is no cure for that hair, we've tried.

Noah didn't cry but Jonathan blanked when Santa asked what he wanted.  It's stage fright and it happens to the best of us.  Oh, and did I mention that the picture with Santa cost about eleventy billion dollars?  Since Santa went commercial, the prices have never been the same.

The traditional pretzel sticks and lemonade.  We don't come to the mall very often so this is a treat that they look forward to.

Daddy took them to get tokens for the carousel ride.  $1 per person... the North Pole isn't cheap, either.

The carousel ride... and we'll do it all again next year.