Our First Pictures with Santa & Mrs. Claus

Tonight we took the boys to the Brandon Towncenter to introduce them to Santa Claus! The boys have started to get a little skittish around new people so I was nervous about them meeting Santa without getting upset. Someone told me to get the pictures done before Thanksgiving and I say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for this advice!

Santa took a "reindeer break" between 5pm & 6pm. The boys, Grandma, Daddy and I arrived at the mall around 5:30pm. Grandma volunteered to save our spot at the front of the line while the boys, Daddy and I walked around the mall. We returned a little before 6pm to join Grandma in line. At 6pm, Santa and Mrs. Claus walked out to take their seats and we were the first to meet them after their break.

We were very happy to have Mrs. Claus in the picture as well or there would not have been room for all three of the boys! As soon as we handed the boys over to Santa and Mrs. Claus, we heard the sound of birds chirping and trumpets blaring.... this was the sound of Jared falling for Mrs. Claus! We had trouble getting him to take his eyes off of the fair Mrs. Claus long enough to take a photo. As soon as the camera would snap, he would immediately turn his head to stare longingly at Mrs. Claus. It was very funny! When we were picking the boys up to leave, Mrs. Claus asked his name and then waved and said, "Goodbye Jared." I think we will have to make a special trip to Brandon for pictures next year to see if the love will survive the year long separation.

In addition to the Jared & Mrs. Claus connection, the other comic relief was Andrew's left shoe. I think it must have fallen about four times during our turn with Santa and Mrs. Claus. While we were unable to capture smiles in this photo, the boys were just WONDERFUL during this experience. I was really nervous about them taking this photo without crying and I was pleasantly surprised. Here is the photo.....

Happy Holidays from Team Darnell!!

I almost did not post the photo with this post. We are using this photo for our 2008 Holiday Cards. I know this ruins the surprise but I could not wait..... it's too cute and I am so proud of my little fellas!