Santa

We took our girls to see Santa tonight. It was crowded at the mall and the line was long. Our girls were wiggly and excited. After what seemed like an eternity we made it to the front of the line. We sat all three girls on his lap and they quickly took the picture. Lily freaked out completely and did the arch-back scream. As soon as they got the picture we rescued her and then Elle and Gwen each got about 30 seconds of Santa one-on-one time. Priceless. I forgot to set my camera's settings before the girls got on his lap and then it was just crazy and too late. The pictures are a mess but I'm thankful I at least got something! You can see Elle explaining to him with her hands the exact thing she wants him to bring her to hold her doll clothes in. Gwen was just as descriptive asking for her very own American Girl Doll.

I love the author Chris Van Allsburg's description of how he felt about Santa as a child. He explains it as,

"an exquisite almost unbearable anticipation of a fairy tale coming to life. a fairy tale that included me."

Just 3 more sleeps!

A First

Elle had a singing performance last weekend and sang her very first solo. Her teacher did all of the girls hair in up-dos before the show. She felt VERY fancy. Elle was so nervous and when we first arrived for the performance she told her teacher she didn't want to do it. We convinced her back into it and then in the middle of the performance she told her teacher again that she was too nervous. I looked at her, gave her a smile and whispered that she could do it. She agreed and stood up and sang Jingle Bells. The best part was her little face so happy with herself when she sat down. It was so, so simple and sweet.