Visiting Santa

As a child, every year we would go to Grandma and Grandpa Knights' home for Chrismtas Eve. The evening would begin with shrimp, cocktail sauce, and egg nog up in the den followed by a large feast downstairs. Afterwards we would gather in the family room. Grandma would pull out her Nativity costumes and we would reinact the story of Christ's birth. Then there would be Chrismtas carols. She would split us up and give us each a line to sing any way we would like to the 12 days of Christmas. By the time the song ended, we were all quite tired of its repititions. As the night wore on and we had sung a good handful of songs, she would begin to sing Jingle Bells. Right on que, we would hear bells up stairs. Soon Santa would be bouncing down the stairs with a large, black bag filled with presents. As a child, it really was one of the highlights of Christmas! I don't know how grandma managed year after year to find a little gift for each of us, but she was quite creative with her gifts and we all got to sit on Santa's lap to confess if we were naughty or nice. (Here's an old picture of me at one of these special occasions!)

Now that I have children of my own and they are just at that age where they are remembering Christmas from year to year, I have found myself so anxious to teach them the real meaning for the season. Last year was so fun as we focused each family night in December on one aspect of the Nativity story. They have nativities of their own to play with and this year Lexie got a paper doll one. (Thank you April!)

One evening about a week into December, I was waiting for Derek to come home from work. All of a sudden I realized that my kids we not going to get to see Santa! It was as if my childhood yanked on my sleve and reminded me of some of the other joys that come during the season. So, I sent Derek a text page and told him to hurry home, we were going to Bass Pro!

This was one of those moments when the husband humors the wife and we both just smile. But we surprised the kids with the trip to see Santa and it was a real treat. Bass Pro sure does Santa up with style!

When we arrived, the first thing the kids saw was a life-size snowman.

Then the kids checked out the trains.

Finally, we found Santa!

After the photo shoot, there were a couple of activities for the kids to do. As we were driving home, I asked the kids what they liked best about our visit to Bass Pro. Tanner said he liked the Elf who was making a bird house. Lexie said she liked Santa, and Derek said he liked shooting guns with his son!