Santa Claus is Coming to Town

So, this is the girls´ first Christmas so, of course, we have to do all the traditional Christmas stuff.

Phase One: Meet Santa

Our plan last Friday was to be on Santa´s doorstep at the mall when he arrived at 10am. We thought this would help minimize germs. Ben had the day off so it should have been no sweat. But, you know what they say about the best laid plans... By the time we fed them, dressed them in their adorable little Christmas dresses, and I pumped, we managed to get to the mall about 11:45am.

Parking near Macy's, we made our way into the mall. As I walked beside Ben as he pushed our tank of a double stroller, I was grinning from ear to ear. Ben actually looked over at me and said I was beaming. It was a big moment for us. This was our first real public outing (besides doctor's appointments). I felt like we were such the little family. It was the kind of moment you dream about when you imagine having kids. It was perfect.

We wondered our way through the department store discovering early on that needing to use the elevator to get upstairs resigns you to some dark corner of department store no-mans-land. We cruised through the mall making our way towards Santa. It seemed fitting to stop for cookies, and besides, I was hungry:-) We reached Santa's doorstep at 12:50 and encountered something unexpected: pagers. Apparently, you get a pager and they buzz you when it's time to get in line just like at a restaurant. We actually arrived just before Santa's lunch break, so we then had to wait an hour before getting in line.

We used the time well. We found a little table within site of Santa's Winter Wonderland, and feed the girls. As expected, we garnered a lot of attention. Going out in public with twins is really quite amusing. On the internet boards I visit, it's often mentioned and some people get irritated and annoyed. One really must maintain a sense of humor. We get a lot of, "are they twins?" Well, yes, there are two of them. "How old are they". Well, they are almost 7 months old" (pause for strange looks),"but they were preemies, so they are actually about 3 1/2 - 4 months old". (big nods of understanding - sometimes with more detailed questions to follow). "Are they girls or boys?" Two girls (sometimes their little dresses aren't visible). Then there are the general comments along the lines of "double trouble", "you have your hands full", etc. We did see two other sets of twins including some boys with their stay-at-home dad. We chatted with one mother for a little while which was kind of nice.

About 1:50, we were buzzed, and took our place in line for Santa. We didn't have to wait long since we were 3rd in line. Santa was great. The girls were perfect. Natalie slept through the whole thing and Abigail was adorable. For the "official" picture, they even were able to make Abby laugh. We forked over the $20 for 2 5x7's and took a few with our own camera. They originally said we could only take 3 pictures???, but once they knew we were buying some, they were more agreeable. I will say the "official" picture was amazing. I'm going to try to scan it in and will post it later if I can.

By now, it's almost 2:30, and everyone (meaning mom and dad) is getting tired. We negotiate our way back through the mall and take our little Santa babies home.

It was really a fun little outing. We felt like a normal family doing normal family things. When we do "normal" things, it always seems a little surreal to me. I get nearly giddy with happiness. As a nanny, I spent a lot of time taking other people's kids to do really fun things. I would always imagine what it would be like when I did the same things with my own children. I am finally getting to live that dream, and it leaves me deliriously happy.