Visit with Santa Claus

I thought last year would be Riley's last year to sit on Santa's lap ... thinking he's getting a bit old for that but he asked to go see him. I couldn't say no, after all he's still so innocent. We like going to Bass Pro Shop. Santa's set up is nice and Santa himself is a real looking one. We've been to this store many times but I still look around in amazement like a kid in a toy store.

There's a huge tall Christmas tree as soon as you enter the store. Riley's been taking a picture in front of it for the last two years. It takes us about five tries to get a picture where he's looking straight at me. For whatever reason he always looks away just before I snap a picture. I'm like, "what are you doing? look at mommy". Lol. He makes me laugh.

We really love the country feel this store has. Not really into those fish hanging on the wall but the couches and the colors are quite cozy. Anything and everything that has to do with cozy we love. To me life is about comfort not the glamour.

We got here about 45 minutes early. There were already three families ahead of us, not bad at all. I took a book to read while I stood in line. Jacob took Riley to the different play stations they had set up for children to play at. So time actually went by pretty fast.

Riley said that now that he's close to turning 6 years old he was not afraid to sit on Santa's lap like he had been years before. I reminded him to make eye contact and to answer in a loud voice. Whenever Riley gets nervous or is apprehensive he tends to look away and not speak. He says he's shy. I don't believe that. I think he's just not comfortable talking to older people. It's usually the outgoing people that like to talk to others that he's not used to. I guess we live in a world where people hardly greet each other let alone have conversations with strangers. Or it can also be because we're not around people much other than the ones from his school and church. Whatever the case, I continue to teach him that we should always be polite and kind to others.

I could tell he was a bit nervous still. He really didn't look at Santa while he asked him what he wanted for Christmas but he did answered his questions in a loud voice with a smile.


It's been getting pretty chilly here in the PNW. We've been having lots of cloudy days with some rain. I kinda like Mondays. The kids have one hour late start on Monday's which means we get to sleep in an extra hour .... at least Riley does. I do linger in bed about fifteen minutes longer but then I tell myself to get out of bed and to get ready before Riley wakes up. That also allows me to take a shower and get ready without having to rush and that is a very good thing.

This is our first year to take part in Advent. I printed out Advent verses and hung them on a string with tiny clothespins. I ordered an Advent book that Jacob read passages and stories from daily. This is still all new to us. I've been looking around at other Christian mom's Instagram feeds and have gotten great ideas on how I can make it even more intentional and meaningful for the family. I also want to get an Advent candle holder. Next year I will be better prepared.

Since I don't have a card holder I came up with the idea to get a plastic garland and hang it horizontally on the wall and hang the Christmas cards that we receive on there with more of those tiny clothespins that I have. I also bought all of our first name initials and hung them on the garland. I think it gave it a more festive look.
In all honesty, I didn't stage this picture with Sophie. She happened to sit down seconds before I took it and since she's cute I let her stay in the picture. She's a goof.

Take a look at the letter N. See how it's smaller than the rest? Yeah, well there's a story behind that. I had gone to the Joann's Craft Store near our house and loved these red initial letters. I believe at this time I only found the J, G, S, and one R. I figured I could drive to another Joann's by Jacob's work. So there I go and I was only able to find an R, so I got that. But, no N. That was the second Joann's store that didn't have an N. So I remembered that there's another Joann's store not too far from our house so there I go. I got there and immediately found the letters but no N. I asked the cashier and you know they always say, whatever is out there is all we have. Psh! At this point I was getting a bit irritated. Then we drove to the Barnes & Noble in Tacoma and there happened to be another Joann's right next door so I dashed in there and no N. How in the world could four Joann's stores have sold out of the letter N. I swear they just goofed and didn't order any. I was all bummed out. So, then I went to Hobby Lobby. They didn't have any initial letters of the exact size that I was looking for so I had to buy the next best thing. The N I got was made out of cardboard. Once I got home I painted it red and the following day I used the glue spray and applied the red glitter. It looked good but just about two sizes smaller. I was happy with it. I just couldn't leave out Nathan's initial. He didn't mind that it was smaller than the rest.