A mall local to us had a Frozen Ice Palace set up complete with Santa Claus in December. I thought Leah would like the Frozen palace, and wondered if it would be enough to break her of her fear of Santa.
Ever since we tried to take her to see Santa (which she was excited to do) at 3, she has lived in fear of Santa. I certainly don't need a picture of my kid with Santa (especially those crying child ones that people post--I find those offensive), but I didn't like that Leah was so afraid of something. She begs to go to Disney World, and I always worry that she would be uncomfortable with the character piece (which would be one of the primary reasons you would go, right? Other wise we could just go to any other amusement park in the world). So, I was hoping we could gently break her fear. I told her she didn't have to sit on Santa's lap, or talk to him, but just to try it out. Every time we talked about it, she would end the conversation with, "I don't have to do anything I don't want to. If I don't want to talk to him or sit by him IT IS FINE." I got it. Then I told her that Santa told me that he just really wanted to see her awake, and he understood if she didn't want to talk to him or sit by him. That made her so much more relaxed.
We got all dressed up to go. Both girls were pretty excited. I was a littler nervous in the full parking lot because I had heard that the wait that weekend was over 3 hours. Luckily we got right it.
There was too much going on to really take pictures. I got it.
They really liked the ice palace. It was just a small circular room that had "snow" falling from the center. The girls thought it was awesome. They just played and played for the 10 minutes or so that we were in there.
Then it came time to see Santa. Both girls seemed a little nervous, but Santa struck up a conversation with them about Frozen and Leah warmed right up. She had been telling me that she wanted me to sit by her in the Santa picture, but she didn't end up needing me. Leah wore my necklace for a little extra security, and smiled big. Juliet seemed a little more unsure. You can tell in the picture. She wasn't sad or scared or anxious, just a little suspect. Daddy made the mistake of telling Leah she looks like a zombie, and Leah now happily points that out to everyone she shows the picture to.
After we met Santa we went out to lunch and played in the play area. I am sold on "Family Hooky Day" in December. I really felt like I could enjoy the season, my kids, and our little family without the pressure that the month can bring for moms. We declared it a new tradition for our family.
No comments:
Post a Comment