What Santa’s Bringing

10 am!

We went to see Santa today at the mall.

Happy Baby didn’t want to have anything to do with him and kept clinging to me like a little koala bear repeating, “No Santa.  Afraid.”

But Happy Buddy was absolutely thrilled and even stayed {{mostly patient}} while we waited in line for 25 minutes.

I couldn’t get any close-up photos because an army of elves made me put my camera away because I wasn’t about the fork over $45 for a photo package that would probably end up getting bent or torn on the way to the car.

But the moment when Happy Buddy sat on Santa’s lap with that childlike sparkle of wonder in his eyes and the jolly old man asked him what he wanted, I thought it might be fun to preserve the memory of gifts that will be given to my boys this year.

I mentioned HERE that we are doing 3 presents per child, so here are the 3 items Santa will be leaving under our tree this Christmas for my 2 boys.

Happy Buddy’s Gifts

1. Youth Football Helmet and Jersey – The hubs got really into watching weekend football games this fall and he often invited Happy Buddy to join him.  This was very inspiring for our boy and has since held imaginary football games every day in our backyard – complete with a numbered puzzle that he uses as a scoreboard and frequent outfit changes to personify various teams.  I once had to carry him off the ‘field’ because of an injury.  All he told Santa that he wanted for Christmas this year was a football helmet and jersey – in honor of the hubs’ and mine alma mater, of course.

2.  Melissa and Doug Pattern Blocks and Boards – We have this sweet, precious babysitter that comes to watch the boys on the night we have worship team practice and Happy Buddy always asks her to bring a game that is similar to this pattern blocks and board set.  He is definitely more of a mathematical thinker (I have NO idea where he gets that from), so I know he will get a kick out of this.

3.  BIG Picture Bible – Happy Buddy and I read a story from the Bible every night before bed and we like to start new Bible versions when we finish one.  We have worked our way through the Jesus Calling Bible Storybook and the Storybook Bible a few times so I thought it was time to try something new and I had read on someone’s blog somewhere that this was good.

Happy Baby’s Gifts

1.  Giant Monkey Suitcase – Do you remember Happy Baby’s DVD obsession?  Well it has mushroomed into this beast we can’t control.  Like the other day we went to Target and he had a massive meltdown because I wouldn’t let him walk out of the store shoplifting the 15 DVDs he had picked up and tried to stuff under his shirt when I wasn’t looking.  Which brings me to the sad fact that he is not content with just one DVD anymore, but must carry 4-5 in his zippered ‘monkey bag’ lunchpail (see HERE).  While at the airport over Thanksgiving vacation, he saw another child pushing this matching monkey suitcase and he kind of freaked out.  It will probably hold about 30 DVDs.  I think we just might melt his brain with this one.

2.  Peppa the Pig DVD – Speaking of DVDs, we had to get him a new one and I am not going to lie, I have a MAJOR crush on this show.  Have you seen it?  Totally ADORABLE.  Favorite part is the random pig snorting.

3.  Sock Monkey Jack-in-the-Box – They sold this at a little shop in our mall and every time I took the boys there, they would beg for me to take them to the ‘Sock Monkey Store’.  Happy Baby especially delighted in the surprise element of this toy and I know he is going to be so happy to have it under our own roof now.

We’re filling the boys’ stockings with a few odds and ends like Minion bandaids and new sunglasses and their favorite treats.

I can’t wait to see their faces on Christmas morning.  I am pretty sure they will both be up somewhere in the 5’s because they are so excited about Christmas morning they have been practicing getting up in the 5’s every day since school went on break thank you very much.

Which leads me to believe that maybe I should have bagged all the ideas above and just gotten them some Ambien for Christmas.

🙂

What is Santa bringing your kids this year?

– Julie