Santa's Arrival

I know it is just November, but last night the girls and I went to watch Santa arrive at one of the local malls. It was quite the ordeal. The mall had a large section of the parking lot near the main entrance roped off and had vendor booths set up (representing stores and a few food court places). They also had a DJ spinning tunes and getting the kids dancing. There were characters from "Hollyville" (what they call the area where Santa sits) walking around that included Mrs. Santa, some elves, a present, a soldier, and some icicles and snow flakes. I knew it would be crowded but we actually had fun. The one bummer was that I forgot the camera. Very sad. Even though we didn't have our camera, the kids still went and said hi to the characters and danced to the music. Then, Santa called the DJ and said he could see the mall. So, we all started yelling and you could hear Santa land his sleigh on the roof and there he was. Then, he lit the tree inside, fireworks went off, and "magically" Santa was on the stage with the DJ. The kids loved it! After he reminded everyone that Christmas was a month and a half away and that children needed to listen to their moms and dads, he started making his way into the mall. It took him awhile to get through the crowd but he took his time and said hello to the kids. Although we weren't trying to get close, both Riley and Kamryn were able to say hi and shake his hand. They have already made their list and are looking forward to actually going to see him. While I don't like the fact that Christmas stuff starts appearing when they put out Halloween, this event started really getting me ready for the holidays. Kamryn asks every day if it's Christmas yet. I keep telling her no, but she is ready. It's hard to believe another holiday is almost upon us and another year is almost over. The time seems to be flying by.