All Smiles for Santa (ha!)

I had high hopes for Anna's visit with Santa this year. As you may recall from last year, it didn't go so well...

This year, prior to our visit with him, she very excitedly made a list with two requests:
1. A Bug's Life the movie
2. A monkey toy

I love the difference in the two requests - one, extremely specific, and the other, very vague. When we've asked her for more details on the "monkey toy", her face exudes an, "Uh, duh. A monkey toy, stupid." expression...and we've been unable to get any elaboration on what exactly she has in mind. So fingers crossed on Christmas morning.

Anyways, I digress. Back to the visit with the big man. As we were waiting for our turn, Anna was fine, with a capital F. Calm, cool and collected. However, when they called our number, everything changed and Santa became public enemy #1.

She did sit on his lap, but, as you can see, the two of them did not have a sweet conversation covering her list items. To Santa's credit, he tried everything to squelch the tears - playing with her bunny, offering a candy cane, and even having me sit on his lap with her. But, to no avail. She did not calm down until she was off his lap.

After the visit I asked her why she was scared and all she would offer was that, "her tummy was nervous." I get it - parents prodding and pushing you to sit on a stranger's lap and request toys from him - it's a little weird.

As we were heading to the car after the visit Anna stopped and said, "Hey, he didn't give me A Bug's Life. I thought he gave presents?" So maybe that was it...no instant gratification?

Even though she's not smiling, I love these pictures because they capture her exactly as she is at this stage, and we'll look back fondly on this memory for years to come.