Whatever they pay Santa it is not enough....

We made our annual pilgrimage to University Mall to see Santa. This is a tradition that began when Rick was a little boy. He has a whole series of pictures from his childhood each year sitting on Santa's lap, and its fun to see his growth and change over about an eight year period of time. We thought it was good tradition to carry on, so ever since Lauren was 10 months old, each and every year we go see Santa.

Although with three kids now, Santa should probably get fair warning before we arrived As you can see from the picture, Lauren is excited, and Katie is wondering why she is all dressed up and in her stroller.

I strategically had Lauren be the first to sit on Santa's lap so both Katie and Mark would understand the drill. Lauren was polite, smiled for Santa and told him she wanted a Wii and American Girl doll accessories for Christmas. When Mark determined Lauren had sat on Santa's lap for a sufficient amount of time he "kindly" told her to move it was his turn. Katie watched with wonder and amazement.

Next it was Marks' turn. He plopped himself onto Santa's lap and refused to move. He began telling Santa his list of desired gifts, including a magnifying glass, winter scarf and Mario Kart for the Wii, Lauren was anticipating getting. Then he began to tell Santa all sorts of stories, did I mention he refused to move from Santa's lap? Finally when Santa could take no more I told Mark it was Katie's turn.

As you can see from the picture Katie was not too keen on sitting on Santa's lap. I did not have high expectations for Katie to begin with, and she did not disappoint!

Poor Santa, I think he had to take a break and go feed the reindeer after we left....