Breakfast with Santa

Today was a good day, a crazy day, but a good day. I say that quite often, don't I? It seems most days are crazy days for me.

Anyway...today we went to have breakfast with Santa. My mom does this each year with the grandkids, it is a tradition of sorts which the kids love.

We started the morning by picking Nonna up, and dropping Daddy off (he was hanging with Papa Scotty, watching football and drinking bloody Mary's) and drove out to the Pool and Yacht Club where we started the festivities by listening to the Teddy Bear Band. After listening to music for a while, we headed in to see Santa, and had the kids sit on his lap to tell him everything they want for Christmas. Daddy had rehearsed their answers with them this morning so they were all set. He also made sure to ask them to tell Santa Daddy wanted a Porsche for Christmas, which they promised to fill him in on. Here is what they asked for....

Ava wants ice skates, and an American Girl doll. I should say that she wants the American Girl doll sooooo baaaddd. She speaks of it every day, asking if I think she will get Julie (name of the doll she is yearning for), asking if she will get her purse and hat, and books, etc. Oh how she wants this doll....

Lucas wants ice skates, and a skateboard (the skateborad is not happening.... I simply told him Santa does not make them. Ahem.) Is this terrible of me?? I have not had one single trip to the emergency room yet and I have a feeling if Santa brought one of these, we would have our first trip.

Anthony told Santa he wants a Star Wars book and an Elmo book. This I found odd as at home he proceeds to sit on the couch and yell "I want that from Santa" to every single toy commercial that comes on the television - no joke. I think it may have had to do with how painfully shy he was acting.

After finishing up with Santa, we headed upstairs to be seated for brunch. This is when the craziness ensued. Imagine boatloads of hungry kids, grandparents, moms, dads, etc. all squished in a small corridor, waiting to be seated to eat. Now this sounds bad enough on it's own, right? Add to it we were supposed to be seated promptly at 11am, and actually did not get seated until 11:30am. I managed to get my three lovely children seated, and headed right to the buffet line as I knew how hungry the kids were and I was not in the mood for a melt down. Unfortunately, I proceeded to wait in line for 30 minutes just to get food for the kids. As I was walking back to the table with food in hand, a part of me was frightened of what I was going to see when I returned. Sure enough,there was Anthony on the floor next to the table laying on his blankey. He was quiet, but I was not fooled.... I knew this was a precursor to what was to come - a melt down. Sure enough, it came and continued on and off for the rest of the meal, out to the car and about half way home until he finally passed out in his car seat. Boy, that was a loooong morning.

Ava and Lucas are at a great age for things like this, but for a week prior to this Breakfast with Santa, I was debating whether or not I should bring Anthony this year.... I was thinking maybe I should wait one more year until he was a bit older and could handle himself a bit better. Looks like I made the wrong decision - oops. But he got to see Santa for the first time, sit on his lap, and tell him what he wanted for Christmas so it was all worth it.

To end, it was a long, crazy whirlwind of a day. But the kids had a fabulous time which made it all worth it - for everyone but Daddy.... The kids forgot to ask Santa to bring him a Porsche.