Another year on the NICE list...

Last night we made the trek to mall to see Santa!  Last year we waited over an hour, but this year Aaron's brilliance paid off.  When we arrived, the line was closed because Santa needed a 1/2 hour break to "feed the reindeer."  Our plan was to wait and be first in line when Santa returned from McDonalds.  Aaron and the boys took their place, and Natalie and I headed into Gymboree to see what we could find.  Suddenly my cell phone rang and Aaron said, "get back here now."  I scooped up Natalie and ran back (it was not pretty in my current condition.)

The boys were thrilled, and Natalie took one look at Santa and started wailing.  Poor girl...it was even more dramatic than last year. 

All in all, it took us about 5 minutes to see Santa.  THANK YOU AARON!  He had a little chat with the head elf, and after telling him our plan to stand in line while Santa was away, the elf decided it was easier just to "sneak us in at the end."  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  It took the sting out of paying $22 for two 5x7 pictures, and allowing me to snap a few shots with my own camera.

This was Santa's idea...put the kids in the chair and then sneak around the back...
Natalie wasn't fooled, and I wasn't going to torture the poor girl.

But, the boys were more than happy to get their picture with Santa. 

After seeing Santa, we headed to Build A Bear, which is right next to Santa.  (awfully convenient if you ask me.)  We had a Groupon to use, so each kid got to choose an outfit for their favorite bear/bunny at home.  Can I just say that I LOVE Groupon.  In the end, we got 3 outfits for the cost of 1.  And, while giving a "present" to the kids before Christmas seems wrong, there was NO way that I was going back to the mall.  So, a little piece of Christmas came early to the Stewart house!