The Life and Times of the Arning Bros.: Visiting Santa: Then and Now

Today, Mike and I took Charlie and Chase to have their photo with Santa Claus. As you probably remember - especially if you read the blog entry, Sneak Peek a few weeks back - I was not expecting a pleasant experience. Charlie has not been all that interested in meeting Santa, and actually, has flat out refused to ever sit in his lap. I wasn't sure how Chase would do, but given the fact that he cannot be separated from me for more than five seconds, I was fairly confident that he wouldn't want to sit on Santa's lap either. But, it's Christmas time and that's what us parents do... take our kids to visit a strange, fat man and expect them to sit happily on his lap and smile for the camera.

So, off we went, to Bass Pro Shops for the annual merry/scary Santa photo outing. When we arrived, I was cautiously optimistic because the line was really short and I figured that we'd be in and out of there before you could say "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." But, then Santa went on break. (I wanted to bribe him with money to see if he'd stay for a couple of more minutes, but I wasn't sure how that would go over.)

Anyway, as you can imagine, Charlie was not at all interested in standing in line when there was so much else to see and do, so off Mike and Charlie went to explore Bass Pro Shops and all it had to offer. Chase and I held down the fort in line. As long as there's food and milk, Chase is generally happy. (And he was generally happy... for the first 15 minutes of waiting!!! But, I digress.)

FINALLY, Santa came back from break. We're back in business! (Why does Santa need a break anyway? What's he doing? Sitting there? How hard can that be?) So, I flag down Mike and Charlie and we all get back in line to wait our turn. Charlie, however, does not understand this concept, at all, nor does he care. He is much more interested in the trains, toys, cars and ATVs that are all around him, so he starts to pitch a fit. We're so close, I can taste it, so I begin bribing and general begging. "Just hang in there, Charlie! You can do it!"

After just a few more minutes of waiting, it's finally our turn. The big moment arrives. We begin the short walk up the red carpet to meet the man, himself. I'm wondering what's going to happen, fully expecting that Mike and I will have to be in the photo with the boys again, like we did last year. Mike sits Charlie down on Santa's knee and I immediately see the bottom lip puff out. I'm confident tears are sure to follow. I sit Chase down on Santa's other knee but I'm not really worried because he's busy drinking from his cup. I tell Mike to step out of the picture because I think there's a remote possibility we just might get a photo with Santa and two relatively happy boys. It can't be true, can it?

Nope. The moment I step away, Chase loses it. Drops the cup. Tries his best to shimmy off Santa's knee and desperately reaches for me. Charlie just stares at Chase and then at Santa.

And that's our first photo with Santa.

Meanwhile, Charlie is actually doing ok! He's sitting on Santa's knee and has not cried one, single tear! Granted he's not speaking to Santa either, but still, he's tolerating it! I'm shocked! What a big, brave boy!

And that's photo number two... Charlie, sitting on Santa's knee, NO TEARS! He did it! He actually did it! How exciting is that?

So, that was our 2010 Santa photo experience. All in all, not too bad! Next year, Charlie will be an old pro and it'll be Chase we have to worry about. Maybe someday we'll get a picture with both boys smiling. A mom can dream!

In the meantime, let's take a walk down memory lane...