Santa, I KNOW HIM!

Santa, this dude's everywhere! Evan missed seeing Santa back in 2008 because I was (a) pregnant [unknowingly with twins] and (b) lazy. I have continued to feel guilty about it for two years, I mean we even took Brennan and Carter their first year to see him and they were barely six months old - hellooo cold and flu season. And then it hit me, we were running out of time.

Santa is of course super busy this time of year. You know, managing the elves and whatnot. But we are super busy still in our perpetual, never-ending survival mode. I decided I didn't want to miss the pictures with the Jolly Man for the twins' second Christmas too. Off we went. To the mall. Less than a week before Christmas. With three kids.

On the way there Kevin called his parents. He was calling to make sure they were okay since his Uncle Vito (yes, that's his real name) called the night before saying he was concerned because he couldn't get a hold of them. It turns out we couldn't get them that night either, hence the call Sunday morning. He shared our plans for the morning and they decided to invite themselves along. Don't worry, it all worked out okay - they offered to pay for the pictures and for lunch. Sweet!

We got to the mall around 9:30 since the stores open up at 10. I assumed Santa would be offering his services at that time too, but I assumed incorrectly. I guess he was dealing with an elf strike or something because he jingled his buns into the mall's North Pole promptly at 11. We made do and everyone survived, but I did almost mame Carter with the stroller once. Okay, twice.

The picture turned out better than I anticipated, but like most things nowadays, I went in with nearly zero expectations. It's easier to be pleasantly surprised then, trust me. Everyone was looking at the camera, but we captured a tally of zero smiles. Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like three expressionless faces. Oh, and just for the record our Santa keeps track of every set of multiples that grace his lap. Last year he had 160 sets of twins, 9 sets of triplets, and 1 set of quads. I wonder if he can feel his legs at the end of the day or season?