Ca Ca Cause where ahh yooou?

Speaking of traditions, the day after Thanksgiving has always been a super fun one. The day starts off with us girls (my mom, Bonnie and myself) plus all the kids, loading up and heading over to the mall for some serious shopping. Ok, well now that there are children in the mix the shopping part has gone a bit to the wayside...as a matter of fact, not a one of us got a single Christmas gift while all together. But it was a fun day none the less. First we headed over for some lunch- McDonalds Happymeals for the babies and Panera for the rest of us (Jackson can never resist a McDonalds Cheeseburger. It is his favorite!) Then it was train and Santa time. Oh my goodness the babies could hardly contain their excitment while waiting their turn for the train. Everytime it would pass by them in the loop one of them would exclaim "Choo Choo Chain! Mommy, Mommy! Choo Choo Chain!" Sophie was even climbing up on the fence to get a closer look. Anna didn't feel like riding, so she was the big sister and cousin and walked the babies to the train and helped them get seated and then aslo helped them get off. She is such a big girl now. They loved every minute of it.

After the train we headed over to see Santa. Oh man, the kids were soooooooooooo excited. Words can't even describe the level of excitment they had waiting their turn to see "Santa". There wasn't a big line, thank goodness. But those that were ahead of us, they kept trying to cut infront of, all the while calling for him

Sophie: "SANTA CLAUS?! SANTA CLAUS?! Where are you?!"

Jackson (following her lead): "Ca Ca Cause (Santa Claus, incase you needed a translation) where ahh yooou?!"

And then all of them calling at the same time, as loud as they possibly could......: "SANTA?!" "CA CA CAUSE?! " "SANTA CLAUS?!" "HANTA!!" (Jackson's other word for Santa)

They were truly a riot. They were knocking on the door of Santa's house and trying to figure out where in heck this Santa guy was. Finally it was their turn. They went charging as fast as their little legs would carry them right up until they saw exactly what Santa really was. You could actually hear the breaks screaching as they came to full stops infront of this strange guy with a huge beard. NO WAY were they going anywhere near them. I had picked up Jackson to set him on Santa's lap, and like a monkey he wrapped his legs around my waist so tight and kept repeating franticly "No Mommy, No Mommy! No Mommy, No Mommy!" Bonnie had already plopped Sophie (who is usually Little Miss Brave, Can Do Anything Girl) onto Santa's lap. She immediatly started crying for Mommy and was wiggling to get down. They made it very clear that there was no way in the world they were sitting on this guys lap- Santa or not. But Santa was so sweet and suggested that Bonnie and I sit down on the bench holding the babies, Anna sat in the middle and Santa stood behind us. It ended up a cute picture in the end. But neither of the babies were thrilled that Santa was still that close to them. It was the craziest 3 minutes ever! But Anna is truly growing up. She was very brave and told Santa everything that she wanted for Christmas. We were all very proud of her. This was the first year she would talk to him. But don't worry about the babies, they all recovered quickly. Gummies fix everything.

After all the excitment it was time to do some shopping for the kids Christmas outfits. We found some beautiful ones. These kids will be the best looking children at church, hands down. We also picked out matching flannel PJ's for once we are all at Mimi and Papas house- so cute! Be sure to check back for pictures!

After all this shopping the kids needed to blow off some pent up energy so off to the play yeard it was. It was here that I finally noticed that Jackson isn't just a little baby anymore. He wasn't the littlest boy there this time. And he didn't need me to help him climb on the toys. And he also didn't need me to protect him from the big kids- he was running around crazy with the rest of them! Boy did they have a blast. Great way to end the day. We weren't even out of the parking lot and Jackson was sound asleep. An army wouldn't have woken him up!

Now it was time to take Little Man for a sleepover at Grammy and Pop's house so the grown-ups (including Anna this time) could go out for our special dinner. This year we were heading to Mallorca. This was an absolutly delicious meal. Defiantely up there on my list for best seafood. Be sure to check it out sometime! Our waiter was very sweet to Anna. He could tell it was a special night for her so he asked if she wanted to touch one of the lobsters. She got to pick out her favorite and he then pulled it out of the tank and let her pet him. On the way back to the table she pulled me aside and said "Best night ever." I was beaming over her joy. It was so special.

After dinner it was back over to my parents house for some after dinner drinks and conversation. It was a lovely night and a great way to remember this year's version of our perfect tradition.