Ho Ho Ho

Am I above bribing my child? No. No I am not. Last month we took Kip to visit Santa. We'd talked about it ahead of time and Santa even came up to him and interacted with him a little before trying to get the picture. But as soon as we went to put him on his lap, Kip lost it screaming. The photo girls put a sled prop in front of Santa so Kip could sit there. Nope. Then they tried to get me to sit with Kip. Nope...and I didn't want that either. So after a few minutes we just left.

Now, I have to say, this is one HUGE major advantage to visiting Santa the first weekend in November (right after Halloween). There is no line and they let you take your time. The photo girls were patient and so was Santa. We left with Kip and took him to the Disney store. We let him pick out a car toy (I made sure it "matched" his outfit) and we told him Santa would open the box for him. We took Kip back over to Santa and Mandy got the car out of the box and gave it to Santa. We walked Kip up to Santa and he handed the car toy to Kip. The result?

Cutest picture ever!!!! They took several shots and Santa played with Kippy for a bit. There were no other kids in line behind us so even after we finished, Santa walked over to where he could see Kip playing with his new truck and waved to him.

We have confirmed this is the same Santa Kip saw last year and I'm 90% sure it was the Santa from his first Christmas as well. He is the sweetest.

Santa 2018
Santa 2017

Okay, and I just have to add this one thing because it's really on my mind and an example of why social media can be so awful. I follow one mom "influencer" on Instagram. She has been talking about how overextended she is this season and how she has so much stuff to do (but, like the same stuff we all have to do) and she was stressed out because she still had to take the kids to visit Santa. So I messaged her and gave her the tip for next year to visit Santa right after Halloween because there are no lines, you get it out of the way early, Santa spends extra time, it's a fun way to kick off the season, and the kids can't change their minds about what they ask for last minute. She messaged me back and said that they see a private Santa for a professional photo shoot. That was her response! And I wanted to be like...oh, and did you take your personal helicopter there? Geez, why don't you just tell me I'm mall trash and be done with it? I know her life isn't perfect and the things she puts on her feed are just the highlight snapshots but at the same time maybe...just maybe...it's important to recognize how your life comes across to others and humble yourself just a bit? Kip's Santa experience will stick in his baby brain exactly the same amount as her kids' "private" Santa experience will and you know none of it really matters anyways.