You better watch out, you better not cry, better not take your own pictures with your own camera, I am telling you why...

Today is the first day of Christmas break for the boys! And I admit, this is the first year where the idea of them being home for 2 weeks doesn't make me a little nervous. It was wonderful to get up a few minutes later this morning, pack a few less lunches, and snuggle on the sofa with my coffee and 3 warm boys under blankets while we watched cartoons. And this morning we planned to do our annual Chick-fil-a and Santa pic routine. Here are the boys (first in line!) eating their chicken minis and being extremely good natured and patient while we waited for Santa's arrival (the trick is to beat Santa there by about 30 minutes - trust me, it feels WAY different waiting in line for 30 minutes if you are first in line!!!!). I was glowing. My boys looked cute, were acting cuter, and I even took a shower this morning. At this point I may have even sent a text to David that proclaimed that I kinda rocked (and he may have sent me a text telling me how modest I was). 

 The one small snag in the morning involved that little sign above their heads (you know, the one I didn't read the entire half an hour that I was standing there?). Santa's 'helper' (i.e. edgy passive-aggressive middle-aged woman dressed in red) came over to ask if I wanted to purchase pictures and I kindly told her no thanks, I am going to take my own (like I have every other year). And then she informed me that I needed to stand outside the wall if I wanted to take my own picture. I stated that this must be a new policy, and she said, "I don't know who was here last year, but this is our policy." 

Um, excuse me? Santa was here last year.

So I kindly (ok, maybe I was losing a bit of kindness at this point) asked her how much it would be for one picture taken by them.  "$19.95," she replied.  I laughed and stood behind the wall and took my pictures. 

With my mega zoom lens. Booyah! 

 I love the part where it says "Our policy allows us to continue bringing this holiday tradition to you each year." Are you saying if I don't purchase your picture of the boys on Santa's lap, printed on ugly Holiday paper and guaranteed to feature none of the boys actually smiling, or even looking at the camera, that Santa will not come next year?  Since when do Santa's helpers use threats?

Ahem.

Let me do say that despite my attempts to explain the irony to the boys, they were pretty excited to hop on his lap and tell him what they wanted. Actually, Merritt and Ian were excited. Gavin has entered the unsure phase, but he took one for the team and went along with it for the little's sake. And mommy's. And I don't think he is quite ready to declare if he is on Team Believe or Team Don't Believe. 

That's too big of a risk with Christmas morning 5 days away.

 My boys with Santa! Best picture taken over a wall ever.

Afterwards, we headed upstairs to continue a tradition we started last year - going to Build a Bear to create a bear to donate. 

Some little boy is going to be soooo excited, or some little girl is going to to be very disappointed. 

I even tested the magic of the morning a little bit and took all 3 boys into West Elm afterwards. And guess what? We didn't break anything! Christmas magic, indeed.

Update:  A couple hours after we returned home today, we were standing at the pantry talking about lunch options, when Merritt spontaneously burst into tears. Sobbing. 
"I forgot to tell Santa that I want dragons!!!" he wailed.

So, after some consoling and quick thinking, I was able to convince him that the fastest way to let Santa know was to write him a letter and place it by the elf, since the elf goes back to the North Pole every night to tell Santa how the boys have been. Whew - disaster averted, at least to a 5 year old.