Santa's Lap!

On Sunday, our village had their local Christmas fair, held in Hannah's school. It was a great event, and probably 80% of the community showed up to it at one time or another. There were crafts for sale, cookies and things for sale, and of course, plenty of tea and coffee. All proceeds were going to Hannah's school for fund-raising purposes. We had a lot of fun talking with people we knew, meeting new people and just having fun. The girls got their faces painted (which they were VERY excited about!!) and of course, they got to meet Santa. Now, since I'm a former kid myself, and have seen many Santa's, I have to say, this was the coolest Santa experience I've ever seen! When we got into the gym, we gave the workers the kids name and ages, and paid our fee for the sitting. Once we finally were brought into the room, it was magical! It kind of made me think of a Haunted house or something the way the first room was darkened and decorated (like Christmas, not Halloween!) and you had to walk to different room where Santa was. He was sitting in his throne-looking chair flanked by a decorated tree and a mocked-up chimney. All done well, and not cheesy looking at all - you really felt like you were walking into a story-book! So, Santa asked the girls (mind you, this is all in Irish, so we'd done some practice before we went into the room) what they wanted for Christmas, and of course they told him. He went through the usual, "Have you been good" etc. and just complimented them on how sweet they were. Then, all of a sudden, down the chimney came 2 bags! One each with their name on them packed with a few age-appropriate gifts like a coloring book and markers for Hannah and a toy music player for Cailyn; and of course some sweets! Santa presented them to the girls, and wished us all a Merry Christmas, and out the door we went. It was SO fun! I'm sure that may be the longest Santa's lap-sitting story you'll ever hear, but to us, it was just very awesome, and the girls really loved it. Around our house (*spoiler alert*) we know that Santa is make-believe, but we do understand that there's a lot of fun in pretending. It was a great day out, and here' the picture they sent us home with of the girls sitting on Santa's lap.