Santa Claus Visit

Today was one of my favorite Christmas traditions that I do with the granddaughters.   We all bundled up in warm clothes, because of course our high today was only 32 degrees!   Then we piled in the car and headed out to go visit Santa and Mrs. Claus!!    

The cool part about our yearly visit to go see Santa, is that my granddaughters have been going to see the same Santa since they were 7 and 8 months old.   Each year we will track down where he is going to be and we make sure that we go see him.   There have been a couple of years in the past 10 that we have been doing this, that we almost missed him.   Thankfully, that hasn’t happened and we have pictures with the same Santa and same pose, since the girls were babies.   My youngest granddaughter is going to join in on the tradition this year, her mommy is taking her to see him next weekend.     

The couple that plays Santa and Mrs Clause also run a petting zoo here in town and they actually raise Reindeers.   We learned today on our visit, that Reindeer shed their antlers at least once a year.  When we went to visit today, the Reindeer they had with them had shed on of his antlers and only had one.    It was kind of cool, because the girls ended up getting an educational lesson on how they do this and why they shed them.   They wanted to know if it hurt them to lose the antler and Mrs Claus described it the girls, it was like them losing a tooth.   Apparently normally they will shed them in March, but because we have had such a warm November and December (prior to today of course), they  are shedding them early this year.

When  you arrive to visit Santa, you will see his Reindeer along with the sled and of course Mrs. Clause..  It is a realistic and cool experience for the kids, instead of the traditional , Santa with a big chair kind of visit.    I don’t  think that the couple that does this make a lot of money so I believe that they do this for the sheer love of spreading Christmas cheer.  They do give you the opportunity to purchase pictures, but they don’t mandate that you buy from them.   They always pose for me when I have our camera or cell phone and it doesn’t matter to them if you purchase a picture from  them or not.   We have always purchased a picture package, simply because I want to support them and make sure that they continue to have Santa visits for kids to come in the future.   The pricing on their pictures is extremely reasonable, I only pay $7 for 2 5×7 pictures or you can pay $10 and get an 8×10 and 2, 5×7 pictures!   

I can remember those years when the girls were toddlers and were scared to death of the man in the beard and didn’t want to get in the sleigh and take the picture.   Yes, in case you are wondering, I do have a couple of the pictures where the girls were crying and just wanting down.   As the Nana , I was standing to the side encouraging them to visit and take a picture while Mommy would get in the sleigh with them to take the picture.   

If you live locally (Cookeville, TN) , you can go visit our Santa at Tractor Supply next weekend , Dec. 17th here in town.  

I am wondering , do you take your kids to see Santa?   Has it always been that perfect picture, or have you had our experience where the kids are just crying and screaming and wanting down?    Let me know in comments below what you do at Christmas time and Santa Pictures?

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