You smell like beef & cheese

Tonight we enjoyed our traditional walk through Christmas village and visit with Santa. It was a super nice night to do it seeing how there is no snow, mud or rain and it was like 50 degrees out when we left the house.  But at the same time it was also strange to be out there without snow.  It was so warm in fact Benjamin and Hannah removed their coats and walked around in t-shirts.  We did get a few looks from strangers and a couple odd comments but eh, whatever.  It was Hannah and Benjamin's decision, they carried their coats and when they wanted them back on they put them on.

The line for santa was quite long by the time we got there and we ended up waiting in line for an hour.  I am glad we got there when we did though because after we left Santa's 'house' the line was incredibly long.  All of he kiddos did really well though as we waited in line.  We got hot cocoa, took turns looking at some of the houses closes by, played eye spy and got balloon animals.  This year there were two ladies sitting by the line making stuff for every kid - for FREE!  How cool are they?  Everyone wanted a dog except Andrew, he got a sword and had a blast hitting everyone on the head with it.

Everyone told Santa what they wanted for Christmas.  We are very proud of our timid, tender hearted Hannah who didn't want to sit on his lap but she did go up and talk to him and ended up giving him a hug before we left - which totally surprised us. Andrew looked terrified but didn't cry - yay!  He really was a very sweet and kind Santa.  He took extra time with every child, listened to them and answered their questions.  When he asked Benjamin if he had been a good boy, Benjamin said "Sometimes."  And Santa said, "That's all we ask for.  Just keep trying."  He told Rachel, when she asked for a real horse, how difficult it is to harness up the reindeer.  How they always moved around and you have to be gentle.

After we left Santa Rachel talked about how his mustache looked different from his beard.  She said she could even see some tape or something holding it on.  I wonder how many more Christmas we will get with her believing in Santa.  :)  Hannah on the other hand thinks he is the absolute-for-real Santa because he said he got her letter.