Seeing Santa, Take 1

We headed out to the mall tonight to get a preview of Santa. I am hoping to get the kids picture with Santa but figured we better let them get acquainted with the man first before we attempt that. As usual, Will was a chatterbox the entire car ride. He has always been quite the talker but it has reached a whole new level in the past couple weeks with him telling long stories and me only understanding about half of them. The kids practiced telling Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Marcus said he wanted choo choos and dinosaurs. That was the first I heard he wanted dinosaurs. (He is into the show on PBS Dinosaur Train so I suppose he wants to "play" Dinosaur Train.) Will said he was going to tell Santa that he wanted shirts and shoes. Will is an aspiring metrosexual.

Despite their enthusiasm in the car, as soon as we walked into the mall Will announced, "I going to hide." Santa was taking a hot cocoa break so we went to do some shopping. Then we came back and waited in line for six hours. Okay, maybe only 30 minutes but when you have two young kids, it seems like six hours.

At last, we were next in line. The anxiety hit. Marcus said he didn't want to see Santa. Will was trying to run away. Greg said he would hold our coats and I could handle the kids. Gee, thanks. I kept reassuring the kids that we were all going to hold hands and stay together and I would talk to Santa first. Marcus was almost buying it. Will was freaking out more. It was our turn.

If only we had a video camera.

Marcus looked very worried but walked up anyway, holding my hand. I had to practically drag Will. Marcus turned his back on Santa. I think he was just trying to tell me that he wasn't going to talk to Santa but Santa took it to mean that Marcus wanted picked up. Santa placed Marcus right on his lap and Marcus did really good. Not great, but really good. Santa asked him his name and he told him. Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas and Marcus said, "Choo choos and dinos." I don't think Marcus ever once looked Santa in the eye but he did really good.

All the while, Will screamed bloody murder. It was pretty much exactly like the first time Will met Santa two years ago. I don't have video of that either but I think this picture pretty much explains it.

He was seriously out of control. I was kneeling down and holding him tight but he was just terrified. Santa asked Marcus what his brother's name was because Will was not about to speak anything beyond shrieks. I turned to Will and said quietly and sternly, "Will, that's enough. We are here to talk to Santa. All done crying."

Will stopped crying INSTANTLY. We also learned this evening that Will is not only a chatterbox normally, but he talks even more when he is nervous. He went from screaming his head off to telling Santa something about the lights in the sky and he had snow on his hat and he wanted a choo choo and there were people over there and he liked candy and something wasn't working very well and he wanted shoes and shirts and a hat and some pants too and it was dark outside and about ten other things that I didn't catch because Will was just talking too fast without a tear in his eye. Santa asked if he could have a hug and Will jumped off my lap and gave Santa the biggest hug ever while grinning ear to ear.

Greg and I were pretty much speechless at the turn of events.

Then Will got back on my lap and started talking some more but Santa cut him off and offered him a candy cane. Both kids gave Santa high fives and we went on our merry way. The whole way home Will couldn't stop talking about how he hugged Santa and gave him five. He said repeatedly, "I like Santa!" Hopefully the next time goes as smoothly!