Visiting Santa

On December 8, Ainsley and I went with our friends Nikki and Brady to see Santa Claus at the Summerset Collection Mall in Troy. It was the biggest Santa display I have ever seen. There was a three floor castle he was in. Instead of waiting in a huge line, you signed up for a time to visit with Santa and you got ten minutes by yourself with him to take pictures, sit on his lap, and talk to him. We had to wait about an hour until the first available time and Ainsley was so excited the entire time. She kept looking through the windows of the castle to peek at Santa.

I know Ainsley is really shy and so she probably wasn't going to like seeing Santa, so we had talked about it all week to try to prepare her. She had rehearsed what she was going to ask him for Christmas. It always consisted of some version of the Mary Poppins movie, Belle movie, Tinkerbell movie, baby, and crib for her baby. We had also talked about how she was going to be so brave, and not cry when she sat on Santa's lap. We had looked at her picture with Santa last year and she saw that she was screaming in it. She kept telling us all week, "And I'm not going to cry." When it was our turn though, she started to get nervous. You could tell she was trying to be so brave. She sat on his lap just fine, but she wouldn't crack a smile the entire time. She just looked petrified. So we tried to coax her to get a few pictures, but to no avail. As soon as she got off his lap though, she was so excited again and proudly exclaimed "I did it. I sat on Santa's lap." She was as happy as can be as she picked out some magic coins from Santa's toychest that we could redeem for prizes at some of the stores in the mall. So although the pictures don't show it, I think it was a very successful trip for Ainsley. She can't wait for him to come bring presents on Christmas Eve!