Santa Sighting

Last Thursday, Pumpkin threw up at school.  He's doing much better but still gets a stomachache whenever he eats so I didn't send him to school today either.  Instead, I took the kids to Bass Pro Shops in Pearland to check out the Winter Wonderland there.  The store was just opening so there was hardly anyone else there besides us and the employees when we arrived.  The kids enjoyed the aquarium and riding the elevator over the waterfall and all the cool stuff there is to see.  Eventually, we made our way to the Winter Wonderland area, and the kids sat down at one of the coloring tables.

Imagine my surprise when Santa Claus walked in right by our table!  Pumpkin was agog.  It was like a rock star sighting for the Kindergarten crowd, haha.  Giggles maintained her poker face--she didn't know who the bearded dude was, after all.  Santa stopped to chat with us, and he invited the kids to go see him at his house to let him know what they want for Christmas.  I wasn't aware Santa would be there...heck, we weren't even supposed to be there...so I didn't have my camera.  I also hadn't dressed the kids for pictures.  Fortunately, Bass Pro Shops takes and prints the pictures for free, and who cares what my kids were wearing.  It was Santa, for crying out loud!  We even got coupons for free kids' meals at their in-store restaurant, which was cool.

Pumpkin was so excited to finally see and talk to Santa that he decided he'd also write him a letter.  There weren't any other kids around (we were the last to visit Santa that morning) so he ran back up to Santa to hand him his letter in person.  Then, he colored a picture for Santa and wanted to give him that as well, but he settled for putting the picture with his letter and putting both in Santa's mailbox.  Then, for good measure, we went back to say goodbye to Santa when we were finally ready to leave.  Santa was a good sport throughout and kept chatting with the kids and waving at them and laughing "HO HO HO!"  I'm kind of glad we hadn't seen Santa anywhere else before today because it was a lovely experience for all 3 of us.  No crowds, no rushing, no stress.  Thanks, Bass Pro Shops.

Pumpkin's Letter

I took pictures of the kids' letters before they "mailed" them.  Pumpkin wrote his own letter, and then he and I helped Giggles write her letter (I did the writing, and he suggested a few things, but Giggles came up with the last 4 items on her list on her own).  Cereal!  HA HA HA!

Giggles' Letter