Santa Clause Came To Town

Every Christmas Santa comes to our town via the city fire truck. You know that he is near your house when you hear Christmas music blaring from speakers on the truck, an occasional siren, a loud "ho, ho, ho", and the sound of kids yelling and laughing outside. It is great. It's part of what makes our neighborhood all that I ever dreamed of a neighborhood being. For the last several nights we have heard Santa making the rounds, and we have opened all of the blinds and watched for him, but somehow we missed him. Last night, the other kids on our street were quick to announce that they had seen him while we were gone. Tonight my kids and I were in the car when we heard "Jingle Bells" playing in the distance. It was Santa, and we were on a mission to find him. Step one: Return home to get the camera. Step two: Reassure Cooper that he doesn't have to sit in Santa's lap... he just gets to catch the candy that Santa will throw to him. Step three: Roll the windows down, so we can listen for Santa better while we circle the neighborhood playing our version of the hot/ cold game. Step four: At the sight of the red flashing lights, quikly pull the car over, grab the camera, jump out of the car, yell "Somebody get the baby!", and assume our candy-catching and picture-taking positions.

Mission accomplished.


Cooper waving "bye" to Santa ~


The kids all got candy (Jack even chased the firetruck down the street to get more... and more candy.), and I got pictures. When we were heading back to the car, Cooper - with fistfuls of Tootsie Rolls - said, "That was a great Christmas, Mommy!"