We Believe...Minus One

You know, this may be the worst time of year to have your camera break and be trying to figure out how to use a new one.  You Tube videos and I are now best friends and I still feel like I have made very little progress in figuring this contraption out.  Ugh!

However, I imagine you are scratching your head about the "Minus One" in the title.  Sadly, I am too. I have dreaded this day...you know the one where your kids grow up and don't believe in the magic anymore?  Well, the Cibula family has officially been rocked with the "I know he's fake" spoken by none other than my 9 year old boy.  {insert sobs}

But, the season must move on. And happily, I still have two precious girls who light up with the mention of Santa Claus and all that Christmas Magic.  Even if it was like pulling teeth to get my eldest to cooperate, our visit to see Santa this year was another joyous tradition.

Somehow Grandma can always make things better, so I was mighty thankful when she arrived to meet us for our Santa visit.  No way was my big boy going to tarnish his "perfect child" reputation in front of his Grandma.

The kid's wrote their Wish Lists {for the umpteenth time} while we waited our turn.  Biggies this year are Hatchimals for the girls {of course the most impossible toy to find}, Baby Alive for Lucy, Num Noms and an iPod for Maggie, and a Cosmo Robot Dog for Jack {along with and extensive list of Legos}.

When it was our turn, the girls graciously took their seat in Santa's lap, while Jack reluctantly sauntered up.  To keep things cheery, I'll start with this picture.  I mean, look at those smiles?  Mmmm....love my girls at Christmas.  Nothing sweeter.

Jack took an obligatory picture with Santa with a half smile {because again, Grandma was watching}.      I can only imagine what was going through his head at that exact moment.  I've got lots of guesses though....because he was very clear about his thoughts on this prior to arriving.

And then it was time to share lists!  The girls rambled on and on while Santa tried to decipher their notes.  At this point, Jack was hanging on by a thread.

Then it was his turn...so curious to see how this would go, I held my breath.  Being the polite boy he is, he played right along.  Much better than expected.

One more smile for the camera...and shew, we made it through our first year with a "minus one".

We followed our visit up with candy canes from Santa's elves and a few family pictures by Santa's massive Christmas tree.

More Christmas traditions on the way.  There is sure to be unchartered territory this year, but I'm up for it...the Christmas spirit has me giddy with excitement!