Visiting Santa

We took Joseph to Santa's house today. You may not know this, but on Wednesdays from 3 - 6, Santa hangs out in the downtown park. He's cool like that.

This is the first year that Joseph's visited Santa. The first year went too fast. I vaguely remember thinking that we ought to take him, but it never actually transpired. Last year we had every intention. We even stood in line, but J started screaming bloody murder before we even got to the front. I wasn't going to torture him or Santa, so we aborted the mission.

This year, just like at Halloween, we practiced talking to Santa. We read stories, we looked at pictures, we pumped up the excitement levels. It worked.

We went to Santa's house and, when it was his turn, Joseph jumped into Santa's lap.

"Hi, Santa! Where reindeer go?"

"The reindeer are eating diner."

"Oh. Reindeer fly in the sky. Santa lives in the snow." He wrapped his arms around him. "It's so cold."

"You know a lot about Christmas. What do you want Santa to bring you?"

"A choo-choo train!! In your sled!!"

And thus the conversation continued with Joseph talking and explaining to Santa about Rudolph, Christmas trees, presents and snowmen. Santa just laughed. I had my camera snapping away at pictures but really wished I'd had a recorder to catch the conversation. As we were getting ready to leave, Joseph said, "Okay Santa. I go now. Bye! I love you!"

This mother's heart melted.