Santa and the 20th

We headed to Bass Pro Shop for a free picture with Santa on Wednesday.  We got there just after 4 pm and they were handing out passes for 7:30 pm.  There was no way we were hanging out for 3.5 hours and I really didn't want to leave and come back so we decided that we would skip Santa and see Santa on another day.  Elliott didn't care and Spencer took it really well, but I still felt like we needed to stay and have a little fun since we drove all the way there.

Both of them were hungry (I had planned on having a snack while we waited in line) so I bought soft pretzels and we watched the big fish in the giant tank.

We also went on the carousel.  Elliott hated it when we went over the summer.  This time he loved it.  He could barely wait to get on one of those animals.

 

He was much more excited than his face appears.

That night I did some googling to find another free Santa that was somewhat close-by.  I came up with several options, but the one that seemed the most promising was at a local car dealership.  What?  A car dealership?  It was free, so I figured it was worth a try even if it was ridiculous.

 

It ended up being an awesome experience!

 

The backdrop was beautiful, the Santa was perfect, there was no wait whatsoever, we got to spend as much time with Santa as we wanted and we could take as many pictures as we wanted.  They had an employee taking pictures as well and they printed 3 free photos for us.

 

I think I know where we will be going to see Santa now!

 

Spencer and Santa had a little chat with each other.

 

Then it was Elliott's turn.  He reacted pretty much how I expected. 

He actually didn't scream as loud as I thought he would, after the horrifying "people singing happy birthday" incident from Monday.

But then Santa gave him a candy cane and that really buttered him up.  With sugar in his mouth he willing went over to Santa and climbed up next to him.

 

Hmmm.  Candy.  It's important to remember for the next chunk of this post.

So, today was the 20th.  That means that it was time to take the yearly picture with the Santa and the bear.  For those of you that don't know (or forgot), I randomly took Spencer's picture on the couch with these guys when he was 3 months old because I was bored and was trying to fill the afternoon.  It started innocently, but now it is a "thing" and we have to do it every year on the 20th.

 

Spencer just hopped right on the couch after breakfast and took a great picture.  Easy.

 

Elliott not so much.

 

He didn't seem to have a problem taking a picture in his little chair though.

We needed to get out the door for some shopping (my mom was here today and we were going out to get our Christmas present so it was IMPORTANT!) and didn't have time to mess around with him so we decided to try again later.

 

After we went to see Santa and since daddy was home to help we tried again tonight.

 

Yep.  Same result.

Then, just for the h-e-l-l of it we told him we would give him some candy if he took a nice picture.  And what did he do?

 

He climbed right up on that couch, sat still and gave us a beautiful smile.

 

What a candy-hungry little stinker.

So, as promised, we gave him a vanilla tootsie roll and then he stood in front of the tree and demanded we continue taking his picture.

I guess we now have a way to get him to take a picture.  He'll have diabetes within a month, but we'll have cute pictures.

And now, December 20th, a history:

 

SPENCER

 

2007 

2008

 

2009 

 

2010 

 

2011 

 

2012 

 

2013 

 

ELLIOTT

 

2011 

(he was 4 days old.....eek!)

 

2012 

 

2013