Letters to Santa.

Last week for Family Home Evening, we played in the snow for the first time of the year, then had hot chocolate and popcorn. We also wrote emails to Santa. I printed them off so the kids could put them in the North Pole mailbox, that way Santa would be sure to get one set of them (wink, wink). We dropped them off and each child got to visit with Santa very quickly, since he was visiting our town that week. None of them said much. Braxton stated in the car that he was NOT sitting on Santa's lap, or talking to him. But in the end he jumped right up on his lap, and was the most agreeable of all the boys. Gabe got on his lap hesitantly, and then continued to talk to him without moving his lips while staring at his feet. Tristan was terrified from the get go. Santa gave them each a candy cane, which they ate while we walked around the small duck pond and looked at the lights. Next, we packed the crew back in the truck for a short visit to Grandma and Paka (that's what my boys call Grandpa) Miller's house. Back at home they had cookies and milk, and a Christmas story before going to bed that night. This is not our usual routine, our kids do NOT need any sugar before bed, so it was a special treat.

Santa emailed them back that night, and by the end of the week had sent a more detailed letter to each child. I saved copies of all of these for them to treasure later on in life. This was the first time we had done the letters, Braxton was really excited, he kept reading his over and over. Gabe and Tristan could have cared less.