the big guy 2014

**I know, I know, Christmas is over.  It's so over that most stores don't even have any Christmas clearance stuff anymore.  But, I'm STILL playing catch up on my blog.  Two kids hav really been kicking my butt these days, and I just can't get my act together to get totally caught up!!  I think this is the last of my Christmas posts and then I still have a pumpkin patch post I need to whip out along with a whole DOC Band experience post (which was way back in August)!!  So while I know most of you have moved on to 2015 and Valentine's day, I'm still hung up on 2014.  I'll eventually get to 2015!!  But for now, enjoy these pictures of my boys when we went to go see the big guy!!

For the past 3 years we have gone to see Santa at Northpark.  The Northpark Mall is such a fun mall to go to during the Christmas season.  Plus, I think their Santa is the best looking Santa in Dallas.  

We always go see Santa on a weekday the first week after Thanksgiving.  This has always worked well in the past because we don't have to deal with it being over crowded with school aged kids because they are all still in school! I think it was a little more crowded than in the past because we went on a Friday.  I'll have to remember to avoid going on a Friday next year.   My Mom came with me this year. We arrived at the mall a little after 9am to get our ticket.  We were number 82 and told our picture would be taken around 3pm but could come back earlier to see how things were going.  Their system is so confusing!! I used to like it, but now it's just plain confusing.  We strolled the mall and did a little shopping until Santa's Storytime at 10:30.

Pearson is still singing the little jingle that Santa sang in his story…..

"With knock, knock, knock and a stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp.  Santa, Santa, Sannnnn-ta-Clause!!"

During story time, I strolled around with Nash and got him to take a little nap.  

After storytime, we had to kill some more time so we walked around and looked at all the sights to see! We LOVED looking at all of these gingerbread houses.  

I was loving our morning at Northpark until it was lunchtime and the holly jolly spirit in me just flew right out when the crowds came.  We grabbed a bite at Chipotle then went to check in to see if we could squeeze in before Santa's break at 2pm.  

We got lucky and we were able to get in the line because there weren't any people with lower numbers waiting.  We quickly texted Matt to come join us.  He at a work Christmas party at Maggiano's.  

Pearson was really excited about Santa this year.  He knew exactly what he was going to ask Santa for.  

It worked out perfectly that Matt was able to join us for this fun little event!!

When the boys first go into Santa's lap, Nash couldn't take his eyes off of him.  

When Santa started talking to Pearson, he got a little shy and wouldn't look at him.  He quickly told him that he wanted a bike for Christmas.  

I love how Santa takes time to talk to the kids (as long as they aren't screaming) and doesn't just take the picture and move on. 

Since it was Nash's first Christmas I wanted to get a few quick shots of him all by himself with Santa.  I was pretty sure Nash wasn't going to scream because he is a happy little guy.  I was just hoping to get a few of his sweet smiles out of him.  He was mainly just in awe of the big guy!!

I'm wondering if next year will be a screaming picture!! I wouldn't be sad if it was.  I sure do love a good screaming Santa picture!!

Of course, every year I splurge on the $21.95 professional picture because it's just so much better than the ones I take.  

Here's a look back at our Santa pics over the years!!