Santa, Santa Everywhere

We’ve taken the boys to see Santa a few times now.  The first was the official, real one at Yeager’s.  He is the best, by far.  I’ve mentioned before that this is the place to go for photos, or just for the kids to chat with him.

Lucas was fine going, Jack was not.  He’s been very stubborn and cranky lately so we bribed him to get dressed and go.  We told him we’d buy him a new truck (he likes the ones at Yeager’s) if he’d put on pants and a sweater.  Yes, he’s still constantly in jammies.  So he reluctantly got dressed and we headed up the street.  Lucas went right up to Santa and started chatting.  While he did so I plopped on the floor in front of the photographer and started preparing my cameras (digital and video – of course). Meanwhile Kim started the paperwork for buying photos from the Lions Club.  As I sat there Jack walked up to me and stripped off his hat and coat and then his sweater.

He kept his word, he wore them to go – I guess we weren’t specific enough.  Oh, well.  Both boys sat on the lap while I snapped away.  Lucas told Santa he wanted a train and a dinosaur set.  Jack wants jammies and a train.  I think Santa will come through.

A couple weeks later Jack had a doctor’s appointment in Seattle so we planned a family day-trip.  While Kim and Jack talked with the geneticist Lucas and I explored Broadway.  It was awfully cold but we had a good time.  Lucas had spotted a garage door with a man on it as we drove in, so we went and found it.  Turns out it was a painting of Barack Obama.  We then strolled down Broadway and found some fun dance steps embedded in the sidewalk.

When Kim and Jack were done we went over to the Space Needle, of course.  Dave, again, met us and took us up top.  Unfortunately it was a week day so Santa was not there.  Too bad, I saw in the paper that he had a futuristic-looking Jetson’s outfit.  Would have been great.

We also ran into the big man in Fairhaven this past weekend.  In a shrewd mood to get the grumpy brood out of the house, Kim steered us to the southside knowing the holiday spirit was in the air.  It worked, of course, at least until I had my fill of a toy store.  But we did take a horse-drawn wagon ride, posed for a street-corner photo with The Grinch and spoke with Santa again.  Lucas is sly though, he knows there are helpers out there just dressed like the man himself.  Lucas hasn’t said anything to the erstwhile representatives but he has mentioned it to Kim.

He also asked why Santa lived at the North Pole.  That led to an interesting conversation.  I said I thought it was because of real estate prices and zoning issues.  Or that he may be a recluse. Kim said it had something to do with magic and the availability of reindeer.  Lucas ignored my hypotheses and mentioned thought about the reindeer.  He then said that if Santa lived at the South Pole he wouldn't use reindeer but penguins instead.  I guess there's a video out there with that but we haven't seen it and I was quite impressed that he knew that penguins only live in the antarctic.  

Of course I then started thinking that if he lived in the antarctic would he then be the Anti-Santa Claus?  Maybe wear all black and go around stealing things?  Drawn by flying penguins, of course.