A visit to Santa

One of the things that I love about our little town is the number of kid friendly activities that go on.  It was actually one of the reasons why we’ve stayed in Independence, rather than move to Corvallis. 

Anyway, our city has something called the festival of lights.  It’s been a cool parade that has evolved into something pretty cool since it first started 3 or so years ago.  When we first moved to Independence, the festival was, and I kid you not, basically a few tractors driving through town with Christmas lights.  However, the last two years, the city of Independence and the city library have stepped up to make this a city wide affair.  A nice little parade the ends at the public library where folks can come out of the cold and get hot chocolate, cider, cookies — oh, yeah — and the kids can meet Santa.  Additionally, every kid that meets Santa gets a gift.  I don’t know how many presents they go through — but this I think is very cool.

So, Saturday was the big event.  Kenny has been waiting for this for some time.  He’s been wanting to tell Santa exactly what he wants for Christmas this year.  And Nathan — he’s was so excited.  Santa Claus this and Santa Claus that. 

Like last year, the parade was fun.  And like last year, the weather was brisk, so when we finally went into the library after the parade, the warm building was definitely a plus.  Both of my kids were bouncing off the walls.  So, how’d it go?  A little mixed. 

As you can see, Nathan’s experience wasn’t quite as fun for him.  He was excited up to the point when he sat on Santa’s lap.  At that point, he just looked at Santa, snuggled his head into his beard and cried.  I imagine he may have been a little tired as well (we’d been in line for ~40 minutes) — but I felt bad for the little guy.

Now Kenny, let’s just say that Kenny wasn’t leaving anything to chance.

As you can see, Kenny has handed something to Santa.  Well, that’s his list.  He spent all day writing a list that included presents for him and Nathan and he wanted to make sure that Santa not only got to see the list, but kept the list after his visit.  Not surprisingly, Kenny was the only person to bring his own list. 

And in case you thought I was kidding, try expanding this picture, and you should see his list — written out in magic marker, where tricking words are spelled f-o-n-e-t-i-k-l-y. 🙂  It was very cute.  And afterwards, he left his list for Santa (so he wouldn’t forget).

Now, when Kenny and Nathan was little, we didn’t set out to instill a belief in Santa Claus — but I’m not going to squash it either.  I figure, this will likely be the last year that Santa will be a big deal for Kenny, and I wanted him to have fun.  BTW, his list.  My wife picked it up.  We will be writing him a letter back, from Santa — that will be placed under the tree with is “Santa” presents Christmas morning.  I’m sure he will be excited.

–TR