Christmas with kids: Our visit with Santa

From the time you find out you’re going to be a parent (or want to be a parent), you have these visions of how picturesque certain moments with your children will be. You imagine all of these amazing Norman Rockwell-esque photos you’ll have to cherish for a lifetime (and brag about show to all of your friends).

And, then you get real and realize nothing ever goes as planned when kids are involved.

The ever popular visit with Santa is a great case in point. In my OCD, over-planning mom mind, I see my two well-dressed girls politely walking up to Santa and having a great little conversation about how good they’ve been and what they’d really like for Christmas. Then they hop up on his lap for a great photo op where they both smile their best toothy grin and look right at the camera. That’s Christmas card gold.

Now, let me tell you how this year’s visit with Santa really went down. Somehow on the ride to Macy’s, their hair and outfits became all kinds of disheveled and we got stuck in a torrential downpour (not a good start). Somehow, we managed to arrive at a time when there was no line (hallelujah). As we walked up to Santa, our oldest cowered behind me and refused to look at or talk to Santa (even though she happily sat on his lap last year). Our youngest ran up to the glitter covered faux presents that made up the Santa set and tried to walk off with one. I mean I get it, why talk to the guy in the big red suit when you can just grab a present and run right?

After 3 awkward attempts, this is the photo we ended up with. Now, other than the vacant look on my youngest’s face, there’s really nothing wrong with this photo. It’s a very respectable photo to send out as our family Christmas card. But it’s not quite what I had in my mind as a vision of our family. And I really let that get to me instead of really just laughing it off and being in the moment with my family (which I’m really kicking myself for now).

I guess the moral of the story is those Norman Rockwell moments just don’t exist in the real world so don’t set your family (and especially your kids) up for failure. I mean we all want the perfect photo with Santa, but can you blame your child for screaming their head off when you try to set them on the lap of a stranger in a weird red suit and a crazy beard (who probably smells a little funky).

And when you look back at the photo of said screaming toddler years from now, you’re going to laugh and treasure that moment. So just enjoy the experience of the Santa visit with your family, whether you get the perfect photo or the most perfectly awkward photo. Your family is perfect no matter what. Like I’ve said before, it takes being reminded what is important to forget what isn’t.

Want to hear more about adventures with kids at Christmas? Check out this post about decking the halls with kids.

{Ho ho ho}

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