Christmas time is here!

Well, here it is again, Christmas time!

My two handsome young dudes get all excited about this time of the year and it makes me absolutely hysterical with joy. This year, I encountered the "growing pains" of Mr. Richie....He absolutely did NOT want to go sit on Santa's lap this year! Well, I'm the goofy mother that thinks they should sit on his lap until they move out of the house because even though he has grown up so much this year, I still can't get past the idea that this is my baby that we're talking about here not wanting to sit on Santa's lap!!!

We took them to see the movie the Tale of Despereaux, about the cute little mouse with the big ears. This was my first adventure out of the house since surgery, and I figured today I was OK enough to sit in a theater for 2 hours. They both liked the movie and I did too. It's pretty cute.

Afterwards, instead of taking the road to our house, Rich drove to the park where Santa's house is in Troy. Richie was like, "There is NO WAY I'm sitting on Santa's lap!!! No way MOM!!!" So, after we got out of the car on the same side, I had a little "talk" with him and informed him that boys that did not sit on Santa's lap did not receive presents from Santa...so he gave in.

We went in to the pavillion in the park, it was FREEZING cold and the kids looked at the decorations, drank some hot cocoa, and goofed off. We had to wait to see Santa and I guess Troy couldn't afford to provide heat for the event!

Here are my cuties in front of the Charlie Brown/Snoopy display:
Here they are on Santa's lap. I guess this might be the last year for Richie...how bummed am I????

Here is the video of the last part of their conversation. Santa was telling them about how he likes cookies and milk:

Anyway, I enjoy every second of this stuff and have for the last 11 years since I've had kids. I can't wait to play santa on Christmas morning, and I love being the tooth fairy, and the Easter bunny, and just simply watching the magic in their eyes at different times. They are the greatest gift I've ever received, because they keep on giving.