We wish you a warm and fuzzy Christmas

~Christmas Vacation~

 "Clark, Audrey's frozen from the waist down."

"That's all part of the experience honey."

You know how you get an image, idea or fantasy in your head about how you want an event to turn out. Sometimes often the reality of those ideas morph into an event that isn't quite what you were hoping for. The weekend before Christmas we didn't do anything wintry, holiday-ish or "Christmasy". I can't even remember if we were sick, lazy, busy or all of the above. I realized with having small children who are beginning to form long term memories of our holiday traditions, I needed to plan something fun!

Did I mention I was also starting to feel guilty for not having a picture of both kids with Santa? Eliza, Grandma Doris and I went to the Festival of Trees and had breakfast with Santa but only ended up with one quick picture:

I mean it when I say quick. There were about 100 other kids waiting to meet the big jolly guy and I was afraid to get a picture behind the BSU tree so I kept moving us to find the perfect background. The line to sit and tell Santa what you wanted was an hour long. No thanks. Big mistake as Eliza kept reminding me afterwards that she didn't get to tell Santa what she wanted because the line was too long.

Enter: guilt

So....I needed to mend her poor childhood and find Santa. Two days before Christmas. I thought our local Botanical Garden Light Exhibit would be perfect! It is a huge beautiful display, free hot drinks & cookies, fire pits, a train exhibit (what Eliza wanted for Christmas) and of course a chance to sit down with Santa. Lucas even said yes immediately when I pitched the idea. Perfect!

Well, except for the weather. It was averaging 17 degrees at night with not a drop of snow. Flippin' cold. I thought it might keep the people away but I was wrong. Traffic was backed up several miles away to the garden and then line to pay took almost 25 minutes. Did I tell you it was 17 degrees out?

Are you ready for our adventure? Here we go:



One quick picture of a light display. The only one I got because it was so cold I didn't want to take my hands out of my gloves. Unlike Anderson who insisted on NOT wearing anything over his hands.



Anderson lost his patience while we were waiting in line to pay. Once we got in, began searching for Santa and then had to wait in another line to talk to white bearded wonder, Anderson was certainly done. He only wanted to walk around by himself and cry.



But wait! It was finally time to see Santa! Well, Anderson was still crying and it had nothing to do with being fearful of Santa. He was cold and ticked off. Despite Lucas and the others telling me to forget it, I was determined to get my photo of the kids with Santa. I tossed the camera to Lucas and marched up to dump my kids on the lap.

This photo opportunity lasted exactly 4 seconds...

as Anderson bawled and slid his way to the ground.

After making it to Santa so Eliza could enthusiastically tell Santa she hoped and dreamed for a train set, I felt it was time for the next big event! The Train! We couldn't find it. I searched up high and low around the garden and then we navigated our way through the crowds until my mom finally stopped to ask directions. Don't forget it was 17 degrees and we have a crying toddler on our hands.  We finally made it though to the train! Eliza takes one disappointed look at it and says "I thought you could ride on it Mommy!" Dear god help us.

After watching the train go round and round we decided quickly it was time to go. Didn't it seem like we just got there? I thought about all the cute family pictures people had been posting on facebook from the visit to the garden lights. Darn it. I was determined to drag these people around and take some pictures now. We got Anderson to stop crying for 2 seconds to take this picture. Even though it looks like Eliza has a condom on her head it doesn't look too bad.

Oh, these two sweet people (my mom and Larry) were the best sports to hang out with us. They were even silly enough to say they had a good time.

Before we marched back out I did negotiate a stop by the hot cider and cookie stand. With the warm drinks taking the stress and edge off the evening and the cookies freezing in our hands until we shoved them into our mouths, we headed back to our cars. Filled with warm memories of course.