On Friday evening, we took the kids to go see Santa.

We had also tried to go see the big man the previous Friday, getting in line early but seeing the gross inefficiency of the line made us retreat. I waited in line with Lily for a good forty five minutes, to only see the line advance about twice.

We went to The Shops at Southglenn to go see Santa there. They have a big courtyard that is usually lit up with lots of Christmas lights year-round, and in years past, Santa has been outside near a big outdoor fireplace and under those lights. Except, last year, apparently Santa got pneumonia from sitting outside in the cold. So they moved to a different spot indoors.

The other ‘bonus’ about this is that it was free, and you are to bring your own camera to take pictures. Taking large volumes of pictures is something I am very, very good at.

So at about five o’clock on Friday evening, with cameras, kids, and gadgets in tow, we headed over to see Santa.

There was a small line. In front of us was a couple with a thirteen-month-old daughter. She and Lily were getting along just fine. Lily was in a great mood, smiling at everybody, clapping, and she was totally enamored with the lights and trees and decorations.

Owen went first, and he did really well given the last two years. I think he’s starting to get the association now. I also think he’ll be really sad when Christmas is over.

By ‘really sad’ I mean that he’ll probably be upset for about five minutes before moving on to something else, like with trick-or-treating at Halloween. The night after Halloween, after dinner he went and put on his hat and jacket and announced he was ready to go trick-or-treating again. We explained it was a once a year thing, and he just said “Oh, okay!” This reminds me that I need to get an audio recording of him saying this, because he says it in a very funny way.

Then we tried both kids together. I mentioned earlier that Lily was in a great mood, which you most likely (and correctly) understood was a precursor to this photo:

The bonus here is that you also get to see the peril of being your own photographer. It was a little dark in there, even with the teeny pop-up flash on the camera. Eventually the little Santa Sock Monkey won out, and she calmed down a bit.

Owen was excited to get outside and see more Christmas lights, so we kind of hung around a bit before going to dinner at Diego Zhang’s. We had never been, but in totally awesome family night style, we had a coupon and decided to give it a try.

It was a slider restaurant – tiny burgers. Lots of variety. Lots of small dishes. Then we rushed home to put the tired babies (and mama) to bed.

These things are the new best part of Christmas. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And I don’t want to forget.