Monday, December 7, 2009

Dear Mrs. Claus....

On Saturday, the boys and I had so much fun attending our local library's "Morning with Mrs. Clause."

We have never gone before--we don't make much of Santa at our house. The boys know exactly
who Santa is. We don't try to shelter them from seeing or hearing about Santa or anything (not that you really could even do that if you wanted to anymore, anyway! He's everywhere!) They've sat on his lap at the mall and told him their "wish list" and gotten their picture taken. And we love holiday movies--even if they feature Santa in them! (Elf, for example, is one of our faves!!) But the boys know that he is just like any other character in movies or books--fake. Presents come from Mommy and Daddy (and Grandparents, etc.), and they've always seemed to be fine with that!

(Before I get angry comments about what mean parents we are for not doing Santa, let me just briefly explain. It's simply a
personal preference of ours. We don't think other parents are wrong for choosing to include Santa--we just decided that we weren't going to tell them about something, only years later to have to tell them that it wasn't the truth. We felt, for us, it was just best that they knew the truth about Santa from the very beginning!)

But, that's not saying we don't like to do fun things and 'pretend' every once in a while. We had a blast this weekend--get ready for picture
overload, because I had soooooooo many cute ones I couldn't decide which ones to post....I went for ALL of them!


Colin, showing me the 'wish list' he made for Mrs. Clause{Does anyone see that his list includes a dog? *sigh*}

And Cameron's list....

Now to share the list with the Mrs.!

Telling her all about what he wants....

....and getting a sweet treat from her goodie bag!

Colin, very happily telling Mrs. Clause all about his desire for a dog....

....only to find out that Santa has to check with parents before he can bring any animals for presents. Colin knows the rules around here and what Mommy and Daddy would say to a request for a dog....such dashed hopes on his face!

Ethan was especially cute. For some reason, he took right to
Mrs. Clause and was so cuddly with her!

"Ummmm....what kind of weird contraption is that on your head?"

Going over his list....

We love Mrs. Clause!

Next, it was on to crafts, which the boys love to do. Any craft, any day--they are up for it! The order of the day was snowflakes. Each boy chose a different color and they were off and running with the sparkly glue and markers! They all turned out great, and are now hanging proudly on our trees.


Impromptu self picture with Mommy =)

Then, it was on to story time. My favorite part of the day--Mrs. Clause
reading to the children about the true meaning of Christmas!

They boys loved to read (as evidenced by their front row seats) and
listened very attentively as she read several Christmas stories.
We also sang about Rudolph--can't leave his red nose out!

E lovin' it!

Cameron too!

Ah, sure to be the boys' favorite part of the day: decorating sugar cookies with tons and tons and tons and tons of sugar icing, snowflakes, and sprinkles!

{Colin poured so much pink sugar on his that we actually were able to dump off the excess and decorate both Cameron's and Ethan's with it. *sigh*}

The best part--the eating!

My budding photographer--Cameron--took this picture....

....then we snapped one together! I just love my boys. =)

Finally, a family shot:


I am so glad we decided to take advantage of yet another great offering of our local library. The boys and had a blast! It was such a fun, fun day.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love it that it was Mrs. Clause. Never saw that one before. oh and another thing that I have never seen. Mrs. Clause reading a baby Jesus book! Very interesting

Amanda Hoyt said...

Very cute!
Looks like you all had fun!
Hugs,
Amanda

Stephanie said...

We've done the same thing with our boys - told them Santa is a fun imaginary, like Superman or Batman. The only thing we've really had to work on is that they DON'T tell other kids who believe in Santa that he isn't real. I've had to explain that not every mom and dad tell at the same time. E. has caught on but I. still can't resist at times... :P
Are you doing Upwards with your oldest?

Leanne said...

How fun that you guys get to do something like that in your town!!!

I couldn't believe it that she was actually allowed to read the story of Jesus to the kids! That had me amazed and rejoicing...

And Ethan? He about melted my heart with his earnest little face in each of the pictures! I could feel his enthusiasm and excitement!

But Cameron? He's the one that steals my heart every time you post a picture of him....he's just sooooooooooo cute!!!

And oh, by the way, that color blue looks fab on you, it makes your eyes really pop!

Now, how many days till Peanut gets here??!!

Julie said...

First, let me say (which I think you know already anyway) that I'm totally with you on the Santa thing. We actually did take Puckey & Jib to see Santa the other day, but have told them many many times that he's really just a guy in a costume, and that while it's fun to pretend that he's real, he's just not. Of course, Puckey doesn't believe me - she insists he's real. LOL


Second - OH.MY.WORD how CUTE are you?? Are you sure you're 32 weeks? You have a tiny baby bump! (Color me jealous, I was never that cute pregnant)

Third - I love your boys. We seriously need to get our kids together to play. :)

Fourth - How awesome that Mrs. Claus told the kids about the real reason for Christmas!! YAY!

The end.

Holly said...

Great pics! I love it how each of your boys looks so different to me. They sure are cute. :)

Sharon said...

We love Mrs. Claus. I think we've gone every year, and this year of course squeaked in on the end:) I love our library:)

Unknown said...

What a fun day. It looks like your boys had a great day. You must have a great local library!

Amber E. Berkoski said...

So glad you had a good time this year (and last). We are the same way about Santa in this house, didn't want to tell them something and then years later rescind it saying its not true. We have lots of holiday cheer, presents and happiness (but we're never short on naysayers calling us Scrooges).

Happy Holidays!