santa claus is coming to town

ever since mason saw an inflatable santa in lowe's before thanksgiving, he's been intrigued. he'll see santa somewhere and ask "who's that?!" then reply to himself "santa claus!," usually followed by a "ho, ho, ho!"

we knew we definitely needed a santa do-over after last year's encounter, but we haven't had time to visit him before today. all day long, we practiced what mason would do... walk up to santa and say "hi santa!" and then sit on his lap, look towards mommy and say "cheese!" 

mason is not particularly compliant when it comes to smiling for the camera (you might have noticed!), so we worked on it before church, after church, after nap, and on the way to see santa. i figured practice makes perfect! while that motto doesn't always ring true, it worked pretty well today.

we headed to market street to meet santa 

things didn't look too promising 

as we quickly learned what happens 

when you wait until 6 days before 

christmas to take photos with santa. 

what a line!

 mason was a champ and waited patiently

and did just as we practiced!! 

 successful visit and a delicious candy 

cane treat for a VERY good boy