Santa!

We had a great weekend, full of fun holiday events! Friday night we took the boys to Roosevelt Park to see all the lights. They had two of Santa's reindeer, a parachute drop, hot chocolate carts, a mini train and lots of other fun things. The highlight for James was when we quickly walked through Santa's workshop and a woman sitting at a table had Santa's Nice List. She asked if James wanted her to see if he was on there. She flipped her big book open to J and was scanning through names and all of a sudden he just lit right up and said, "J-A-M-E-S! Right there! That's me! I'm on his list!" It melted my heart. The list was pretty long, but I didn't press my luck and ask if Cormac was on it ;)

 Santa parachuting into the park while shooting fireworks from his ankles was a big hit.

 The boys were very excited to get hot chocolate. I gave Mac a cup of cold water and he didn't seem to notice the difference.

We actually skipped the Longmont holiday lights parade for the first time since we have lived here (after skipping the Halloween parade too-it's like I don't even know myself anymore!) so that we could attend High Country Beverage's holiday party on Saturday night. It has been a very big year for HCB, so we wanted to be there to support Dave and Steve. The boys stayed with their cousins and 2 babysitters, so they had a great time. Earlier in the day, Tim took the boys to Crackpots (the paint your own pottery place) so that James could make some Christmas presents.

We spent Saturday night in Ft Collins and went to Santa brunch at the country club with the whole family on Sunday. The girls came over in the morning and decorated a gingerbread house with the boys before brunch.

Papa helping James tie his first real tie.

  

 All dressed up and ready to go meet Santa!

Mac is starting to "get" Christmas and Santa this year. We had been telling him for a few days that we were taking him to see Santa and he could meet him and ask him to bring him a toy. He has remained adament that he would not sit on Santa's lap and was telling us all weekend, "Santa mean! Santa mean!" I figured it was a safe bet that Mac would get nowhere near Santa.

 Right when we walked in the door, Santa was there and James walked right up to talk to him. He told him in great detail about the race car track with a pull back race car that he wants. The second Mac laid eyes on him he started saying, "Want car track! Want car track! Cars go down ramps!" and lunged out of my arms towards Santa.

We didn't get any smiles, but Macky happily sat in his lap and talked and talked and talked about what he wanted Santa to bring him. It made me laugh because every time I have asked Mac what he wants, he tells me something different and hasn't really been set on anything in particular. Apparently he was just saving up all this information for the guy who really matters!

Still explaining to Santa about the car ramps/race track/real car thing he wants.

Out of 5 Nichols kids, we didn't have one crier this year! I would have definitely lost money on that bet. Santa came walking around to all the tables, so we got to have another photo op with all the cousins. I can't believe how cute it turned out!

It took James a few days to write his letter to Santa this year. He still really struggles with writing, especially lower case letters. He knew what he wanted the letter to say, so I helped him write a little bit each day until it was done. It says: "Dear Santa, May you please bring me a car track with a pull back car. James" About 10 minutes after James was done with it, Mac scribbled all over it. So Tim and I erased all the scribbles and tried our best to trace over James' writing.

 Today after school we went and dropped it off at Santa's special mailbox in our neighborhood.

Between seeing Santa and writing him a letter, and another scheduled meeting with him in a couple weeks, I think it's a safe bet that James will get that car track he wants :)