This weekend we took Nicholas to see Santa Claus for the very first time. I guess since this was my first time "seeing" Santa as a parent, I wasn't fully prepared for the experience.
I remember visiting Santa as a child, I remember the lights, the music, the excitement of being next in line, the feeling of Christmas.
Being much older and now, taking my own child to see Santa provided me with an entirely new perspective on this holiday tradition.
Let me set the scene for you.
Santa's "North Pole Cabin" is actually the campground check-in office at the state park, the unmistakable sounds of Christmas music are coming from a tiny CD player in the corner that is skipping horribly, the reindeer have been replaced by a guy dressed in an Elmo costume with a Santa hat on his head and that feeling of Christmas was replaced by anxiety as we waited for Nicholas to follow suit of the baby in front of us in screaming his head off.
It was not exactly what I had imagined but since we've only been in the area 2 short weeks, my knowledge of where Santa "visits" was limited.
This particular Santa, however, was trying his best to make every child feel special and for that, I have to give him some brownie points. It couldn't have been easy.
As we reached the front of the line, the baby I mentioned earlier was taking his turn sitting on Santa's lap. After chatting with his mother I learned he was just a month older than Nicholas. Cue my anxiety. This child was TERRIFIED.
They finally decided it would be best to sit the child in the sleigh and have Santa stand behind him where he couldn't see. I was in the middle of taking a mental note to keep this as a backup when the baby saw Santa out of the corner of his eye, flipped out and threw up all over the place.
Yeah forget about the backup plan.
That's alright though, turns out I didn't need one. My little man was amazing. He laughed, he smiled, he tried to eat Santa's beard and he took a great first Santa picture.
He looks so cute and happy!!
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