We had planned to see Santa on December 1st at Nelm's Photography Studio like last year, but Hannah and Owen had walking pneumonia and we couldn't go. So we debated back and forth about where to go and when for pretty much the whole month of December. Last year Hannah and Owen did not like sitting on Santa's lap so we prepared them with lots of books and far off glances of Santa when possible. We finally decided on going to see Santa a Bass Pro Shops on the Friday before Christmas. It was going to be great! Chris got off work early and I was already on winter break plus we had our first Christmas gathering so they needed to have their Christmas outfits on anyways. It was a perfect plan in Mommy's mind until we pulled up to Bass Pro shops at 3:45pm on Friday, December 21st and the parking lot was FULL. Stay positive I thought, maybe everyone is just doing some shopping. The idea was crushed when the same mother and son we passed coming in the parking lot were headed right back to their car as we unloaded ours. I looked at her with question in my eyes and her response, "they're giving out passes to see Santa at 5:30 and 6:30pm." What?!? Our Christmas gathering was starting at 5:30pm how was that going work I cringed. We put a crying Hannah and Owen hyped up and ready to see Santa back in the car saying Mommy and Daddy will figure something out. We quickly made another plan which was to race (literally) across the city of Richmond from Ashland to Regency Mall to see Santa there with Hannah saying, "figure something out" over and over again from the backseat. Again, I thought this time it will work out perfect. Santa was scheduled to feed his reindeer from 3:30-4:30pm. That would put us there right before he came back to sit down and surely we'd be the first in line. Try again! When we got to Santa's chair there were about 30 other people and their children standing in line already. We didn't have enough time to wait and so left again without seeing Santa and with a sad Hannah and Owen and Mommy.
So on Saturday morning we woke up, ate breakfast, dressed and headed out the door to go see Santa for the third attempt. We made it to Regency Square Mall around 9:45am and were about 10th in line to see Santa. As we walked through Macy's Hannah was yelling, "Santa, Santa" as she looked for him. Hannah and Owen were thrilled to spot him as he walked up and waved to all the children saying, "Merry Christmas!". When it was our turn Hannah and Owen were the sweetest things and walked right up to him wide eyed. Owen started telling Santa what was on his list before he even got to him. As he was walking across the red carpet I could hear him saying, "trucks, tracties (tractors), choo choos". It was the cutest thing ever! They both hopped right up on his lap and talked to him like they'd been doing for years. Santa was so sweet to them and really listened to all they had to say. He commented about how serious Owen was about his visit with Santa. We got our picture and Owen and Hannah made some great memories. Mommy and Daddy were exhausted, but it was worth the wait to see Santa.
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