Down Through The Chimney

So, I finally saw Santa come down the chimney!

We took the kids to Richmond last weekend so they could see the real Santa. After all, the guys at the mall here in Charlottesville are only Santa's helpers. Anyone could tell you that! All you need to do is look at the fake beards and padded bellies!

This guy is for real. He even went to check on the reindeer while we were waiting in line. (Our wait this year was only 1 1/2 hours, which beat last year's wait of 3 1/2 hours! Poor David waited the whole 3 1/2 hours last year while I took the kids into the childrens' museum to play!)

Will wasn't so sure about seeing Santa. All day he kept saying "I not going to see Santa." In hindsight, I guess he was sure that he wasn't going to see Santa! Anyway, he did, but only because David went with him. Suddenly three big sisters weren't enough protection!

Will was the only one of our children who actually gave Santa any idea of what to bring on Christmas Eve. The girls all asked for surprises, but Will asked for a book, which he later decided should be a "book wif ots of gogs." Even later he added trucks to his list. I think he's finally getting the hang of this.

After visiting the bearded one, the kids wrote letters to him. The museum had a little post office set up where kids could write notes of wishes for world peace or for wishes for gifts from Santa.
Then we found a tree lot and picked out a beautiful white pine. We had lots of fun holding up all of the trees to see which one would be tall enough and wide enough and full enough and green enough. Finally we found just the right one.

Buying a tree is hard work so of course we had to eat! We ate at Fuddruckers, which is our usual stop after seeing Santa. We always try to sit in a booth - there's the Beatles booth and the Elvis booth. This time the girls snagged the Elvis booth just after it had been vacated. So we ate super delicious burgers (or macs-n-cheese) and spicy fries and listened to Elvis sing Christmas songs.

Another good day.