A visit to Santaland 2013

Yesterday's advent calendar activity was the one that the girls had been waiting for: visiting Santa at Macy's. They could not wait to go see the man in red and tell him in person that they'd like American Girl dolls for Christmas.

After school we headed to Macy's to visit Santa in Santaland. It may have been cold, windy and pouring with rain but that wasn't going to stop us in our quest to see Santa. The gloomy weather combined with the train ride did send Lola off to sleep though which meant that she was a little grumpy when we arrived.

Grumpy Lola ready to escape from Santa

Ava talks to Santa while Lola sulks

After a few attempts at getting Lola to stand even remotely close to Santa we decided to just let Ava chat with him. I'd hoped that Lola would get a little jealous and join in but she was just too grumpy and stayed far away.

Ava asks Santa for an American Girl doll

Smiles for the camera

After a while (and quite a few bribes!) Lola was feeling a little happier and was willing to go see Santa again. She still wasn't keen to get too close but was happy to stand in a "safe spot" that we marked out with a penny on the floor! Just out of Santa's reach but close enough to tell him her Christmas wishes and to be in the photo.

Not looking super happy but not running away either!

Just like Ava, Lola asked for an American Girl doll. As an afterthought she also went back and added in that she'd like a pink poodle! 

Ava helps out with suggestions for Lola

Lola explains to Santa what her American Girl doll should look like - including the blue hair!

Lola picks out a Santa badge from the basket

Coming back to ask Santa for a pink poodle as well

Once we left Santa's area Lola was much happier. I guess she's still at that age when Santa is a little scary. Even Ava was a little nervous going up to him at first and I can remember feeling the same when I was a kid. The girls were both pretty excited to check out the rest of Santaland in Macy's.

Three nutcrackers

Giant Macy's bear

Check out the twinkly lights! Hooray for Google Auto Awesome!

Looking out at the Christmas tree in Union Square

Christmas tree and skating rink in Union Square (through a very wet window)

Each year the girls are allowed to choose a new ornament for our tree when we visit Santaland. We usually go for something San Francisco themed with the year on it. There were so many ornaments to look at so even though we picked out a Golden Gate Bridge ornament straight away the girls spent almost an hour looking at the trees and going through baskets of ornaments afterwards.

Looking through the ornaments 

So many ornaments to choose from

The ornaments at Macy's are perpetually on sale for 50% off

We used to have one of these tacky singing Christmas trees and Lola is desperate to get a new one!

After checking out the decorations in Santaland we headed downstairs to Santa's mailbox to post the letters that the girls had written earlier in the week. As soon as the girls had poked the letters through the chutes I realized that I had forgotten to stamp them! I could see their letters through a gap but my fingers were just a little big to fit. Luckily the back of Santa's mail box was not locked and I was able to open it up and fish the letters out. It took a while and I felt pretty dodgy searching through the hundreds of letters to Santa but I eventually found them, stamped them and we posted them all over again!

Ready to post their letters

Into Santa's mailbox they go

With their letters sent to Santa and their requests made in person the girls now just need to be good and keep their fingers crossed that Santa will bring them the American Girl dolls they desperately want - blue hair and all!