The Richardsons: Ryleigh visits Santa

In keeping with the holiday spirit, Daddy, Ryleigh and I ventured out today to visit Santa Claus. We decided to head over to the same place we went last year, an old Victorian house here in Summerfield that does this one weekend in December. We learned last year that lots of people show up (probably due to the FREE photo with Santa followed by FREE cookies, donuts, hot chocolate, story time, and crafts). This year they even had a bounce house!!

The Santa photos started at noon, so we pulled into the parking lot at 11:30! There was no way I was going to wait 45 minutes like I did last year! And it paid off. We were about fifth in line to see Santa. We were in, got our photo, ate our cookies and out by 12:30. Score. Point, Mom & Dad.

First we stopped to look at the swans...

on her way...

waiting patiently, mesmerized by all the "stuffed animals"

Mommy introduces Ryleigh to a bear....rarrrrr!

with Daddy, safely away from the bear

raaaaarrrrr! Don't be scared, he's nice, he's wearing a Santa hat

Ryleigh chats with one of Santa's elves

Moose!

we're almost there!

Now. We thought our little social butterfly would have no problem visiting Santa. She seemed excited in the line and based off of previous experiences with strangers, they don't seem to phase her. We even laughed when the lady in front of us warned "Don't be surprised if she cries and doesn't like Santa this year"....hahahahaha, oh strange lady in front of us, you clearly don't know OUR child. The child who walked right into strangers homes on Halloween and gave every passer-by while trick-or-treating a hug. Our child will be fine. Perfect even.

We were bamboozled.

the pass off

Clearly Santa is the THE ONLY stranger Ryleigh does not like. Go figure. But no worries...Mommy came and rescued her from that mean 'ol Santa and everything was back to normal. She even waved 'bye-bye' to him...from a distance. We then enjoyed some cookies, donuts and hot chocolate to top off our little visit.