Santa Baby.

Last night we attended Russell's Christmas work party!  AND it was so great!  I got to meet all these people that Russ has been talking about, AND (the biggest reason) Santa was there.  I was just so CURIOUS to see how AJ and Ryke would do with Santa Claus.  I remember going to my Dad's work parties and would fear Santa Claus.  I was nervous about sitting on a stranger's lap, I was nervous about being the center of attention, and SO nervous about having to actually speak to this person I didn't even know.  Russ and I often talk about how shy we both were as children, and wonder how our kids will be.  We see alot of us in Aylen as being a bit more shy.  

ho,ho,ho
Jingling bells!!! Getting louder

AJ and Ryke were sitting in Russell's office eating snacks when we heard the Santa noises.  AJ JUMPED up and ran into the conference room where Santa was headed.  Santa came in and made the rounds, chatting and "ho,ho,ho"ing.  He sat down and read the kids a story.  AJ stuck by us a little bit and then inched up closer to Santa.  When Santa called on him to flip the page of the book, he happily did so.  Go AJ!

Santa then one-by-one allowed the kids to come up and do the obligatory "what do you want for Christmas" and, in IBM tradition, Santa  gave the kids a gift (of which the parents picked out and brought to the party).  Russell did not get this memo, literally.  So luckily an awesome co-worker hooked us up with some little, GREAT gifts for the boys.  When it was AJ's turn, we had Ryke go up with him.

BOTH boys did great and got up on Santa's lap.  Go AJ and Ryke!!!  Santa asked, "What do you want for Christmas?" to Ryke.  Ryke never responded but as Santa asked him, "Do you want a truck", Ryke nodded.  "Do you want legos?", Ryke nodded.  "Do you want a million dollars?", Ryke said NO!  Bad Ryke, bad.  When Santa asked AJ what he wanted, AJ said, "I want a firetruck with a long ladder!"  
 



So proud of AJ for talking!  What a brave boy!

After Santa was done, AJ hung around him and said, "SANTA! SANTA!!"  Santa didn't hear him so I taught him how to raise his hand, so Santa could see that he had a question/or wanted to tell Santa something.  AJ let Santa know that "I have seen REINDEER!"  And then a few minutes later, AJ let Santa  know that he had "lights that GO DOWN!"  (AKA in an outting to look at Christmas lights with Grandma and Grandpa, AJ fell in love with these icicle lights that look like they are melting because the lights trickle down.  The Grandparents bought him some of these lights that now hang above our fireplace.)  AJ also asked Santa where he lived.  Santa explained in great detail so we could go back to our map at our house and look!

AJ didn't want to leave until Santa left.  Once Santa was leaving AJ announced that he was ready to go!  When asked at dinner time what his favorite thing was yesterday, without hesitation he announced, "SANTA!"

We ended the night with Santa convincing me that I needed to sit on his lap with Dempsey Snow.  AND then Momma kissed Santa Claus, because how can you say No to Santa Claus??

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It does my heart good seeing the joy that this timeless tradition brings my boys, especially AJ.  AJ is at the perfect age to get into the spirit.  I was also immensely proud to see my on-the-shy-side boy confidently go up and tell Santa what he wanted, and then engage in dialogue with Santa about other things.  I'm pretty sure I didn't have the confidence when I was younger. 

LOvE,
MomMa