Santa Claus is coming to town....

This morning "Santa" and "Mrs. Claus" came to visit my Y Neighbours group.  It's something we do every year, although this is the first year that Mrs. Claus has made an appearance.  The kids did pretty well, considering Annika's past apprehension (okay, it's more like a down-right fear) of the man in red.  Two years ago the only picture I had of her and Santa was her running away from him, crying, as fast as her little legs would take her.  We missed out on the event last year (it was shortly after Emmett was born so we didn't make it), so I was unsure how it would go this year. 

We've never actually gone to see Santa in mall, because I don't want to waste a bunch of time standing in line if Annika's going to have a fit and start crying when it's finally her turn.  Also, I don't really care whether she likes Santa or not.  We are teaching her the real meaning of Christmas (the birth of Jesus Christ), and if she wants to believe in Santa too, then that's fine (she'll figure it out eventually - she's a smart kid) and if she doesn't, then that's okay also.  When I was growing up, we left cookies and milk out for Santa, and we always had a present from him on Christmas morning, but I'm pretty sure that I knew most of the time that he wasn't real.  I don't remember exactly when I stopped "believing" in him (it wasn't a traumatizing realization, like "what??? Santa ISN'T real????), but I do remember noticing that Santa used the same wrapping paper as my mom, and his handwriting sure looked similar to hers....  ;)  For now we don't make a big deal about Santa since she's not too crazy about him, but we'll see how it goes as she grows up.

Anyways, here are a few pics of our morning with "the Clauses."

When did my baby get so grown up??  He looks like a little boy now.

She didn't want to sit with them, but at least she's not crying!

Each mom brings a wrapped book for Santa to give to their child, so every kid gets a present.  Annika's still keeping a wary eye on Santa.  Emmett is distracted by candy canes.

She may not be a fan of Santa, but she sure liked her book - we did fun yoga poses all evening!