Time to see Santa Clause

I hate to say that I'm "cheap" when it comes to Christmas, but I when I have the option of getting a good deal, I go for it.  So when Greg mentioned that we should go to Bass Pro Shops to go see Santa, at first I was like, why there?  But then he mentioned that we get a FREE picture with Santa, I was sooo there!  I'm always up for something free.  Plus they were having other FREE things to partake in there as well.  So off we went.


We got there early, and it was a good thing we did.  Because in order to see Santa you had to have a pass, and they only handed out so many passes at a time and if you didn't get one, you had to wait for another half hour to get a pass.  Whew, conflict diverted!  While we waited, we looked around....

We colored pictures....

And then it was time to stand in line, with our green "pass" in hand and wait our turn to see Santa.  We had a mini-meltdown....and who started it?  That's right, my 5 year old.  She started bawling in line, in front of everyone else who were calmly and quietly waiting for Santa, saying that she didn't want to see him any more.  And as soon as she started crying, Konner got scared.  So he hid behind a sign.  Oh the joy.  To say I wasn't upset would be a lie.  I haven't gotten a picture of any of them with Santa since they were babies.  In other words, they haven't taken a picture with Santa except when they were too young to know any better about the jolly fat, bearded man in a soft, red suit.  And I desperately wanted a picture.  To this day, I have no idea why they are so scared of him.  Children half their age were excited to run up to him and give him a hug....my child didn't even want to walk in front of him.  Even the, "Santa can't bring you presents unless you tell him what you want," or the "he's giving our candy canes if you go see him," didn't work, they could have cared less.  What kids don't want presents and candy?!  Oh that's right, MINE!  We waited in line anyway.  They decided they would go up to him if daddy and I went with them.  O.k., I can deal with that.  And what do you know, Natalli actually sat on his lap.  Afterwards she actually told me that he wasn't as scary as she thought he was.  Go figure.

Too bad we didn't have this picture before I made Xmas cards!

After our picture with Santa, for which we got our free picture and each kid got a free snowman silly band (score!), we colored reindeer Christmas ornaments (also free)!  Well, I should say Natalli colored hers.  The boys more scribbled on theirs, Heath because of his age, Konner because he hates art and I made him make me one.  :-)  After that, we went and looked around the store a little.  And here is what we found:

My little cowboys!

And of course, my cowgirl, decked out in pink

Killin' me some grub

He threw a fit that we didn't buy that hat

After walking around, looking at things that interested everyone but me, and having to explain to Natalli what it means to stuff a dead animal and why some animals heads were no longer connected to their bodies, we went and had dinner at Uncle Buck's inside of Bass Pro and it was delicious.  The kids got a free kids meal with the Santa picture.  That's right, it was also FREE.  SCORE!  

We had a great time, in fact, poor little Konner didn't want to go home.  Sad.  We will definitely be going back there to see Santa next year.  Because FREE = FANTASTIC!