pure magic

On Saturday, after the boys had their final dress rehearsal for their church Christmas programs, we went downtown to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa!! We've taken the boys to Bass Pro to sit on the Santa's lap for the past two years now and we just can't help but keep going back!! They have the very best Santa (his beard is REAL!!!!), they have a variety of fun activities for the kids to do before and after they see Santa AND it's FREE!! It doesn't get any better then that!! We got to Bass Pro at about 3:00PM and when we walked up to the "Santa station" where we THOUGHT you got in line we found out that this year Bass Pro was doing things a little different. Instead of just having a looooooong line, like usual, they were handing out line passes with a specific time on them when you would come back to the line and then AND ONLY THEN would be allowed to get in the line. Confused? So were we!! Ha!! So, we just took a pass...and then we saw the time we had been given...4:30PM!!!! Yikes!! We now had an hour and a half to wait before we could even get in line!! And then we would have to wait in line!! Oh my!! Oh well...what could we do!? We made the best of it and wandered around the Bass Pro Shop looking at the fish, letting the boys play with toy guns and other toys and took part in all the extra activities the store had to offer. The boys shot nerf bow-and-arrows, shot a laser guided gun at virtual targets and played with remote control cars. It was fun but I wish I could say the 90 minute wait to get in line went quickly...it didin't...oh, and the store was packed with shoulder to shoulder people too...

We must have done everything in Bass Pro at least twice until it was finally our turn to join the Santa line!! We were so excited!! The boys were pretty worn out by then, having went to dress rehearsal for their Christmas program that morning for FOUR HOURS and then walking around and playing in Bass Pro for almost two hours, but nothing can overshadow seeing Santa Clause!! After just a little longer of a wait, it was finally our turn to sit on Santa's lap!! The boys ran up to Santa and were even excited to tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Maddox asked for a gun (the one he's posing with in the pictures above...) and Ashtyn asked for a Bakugan Destroyer!! Santa seemed pretty impressed with their gift choices!!

After sitting on Santa's lap we had to leave pretty quickly because we were headed to have dinner with Noni and Papa. But before we could go, I snuck the boys outside to the car while Brandon purchased the very toy gun Maddox asked Santa for. We just couldn't help ourselves!! He's all boy!!

I was so proud of my boys for sitting on Santa's lap and so happy to see them so excited!! I love that they still believe in Santa an they still believe in the magic of Christmas. The years that you have where your kids believe anything can happen, have so much anticipation for Christmas morning that they think they might burst and are truly in awe of the magic of the season are so few that I want to cherish each and every one.