"SANTA!!!!! I know him!!!!"

Okay, so Jeremiah's reaction to Santa was a little less enthusiastic than Buddy the Elf's.  But he was pretty excited!

We took J to see Santa for the very first time on Friday evening.  He has minimal knowledge and understanding of Santa, but he was excited because he associates Santa with Christmas!  We decided to take him to see the Santa at Bass Pro Shop after our daycare provider recommended it.  After looking it up online, I saw that they also have a little "Santa's Workshop" set up with games, crafts, activities, etc.  FREE!  Plus, a free 4x6 picture.  Can't pass that up, people! :)  We got there about 4:45 (in an effort to avoid the evening rush!), and the line wasn't too unbearable.  I'd say we waited in line maybe 30 minutes?  And J kept himself occupied.

The people at Bass Pro aren't stupid.  They had every kid's dream of toys lined up right next to Santa's line. :)

So once we got closer to the front of the line and J saw other kids sitting on Santa's lap, he grew a bit more hesitant.  He even told me he didn't want to sit on this Santa's lap, he wanted to sit on "the REAL Santa's lap."  What?????

So HERE IS THE VIDEO of J's first encounter with Santa.
A couple things to note:
~Notice his "monkey legs" around me as we were walking up to Santa.  He wasn't so sure...
~You can't hear his conversation with Santa very well (but you can hear everything the people next to us in line were saying).
~This was basically the conversation:
Santa: "And what's your name, little boy?"
J: "Jeremiah"
Santa: "Oh, well that's a nice name!"
(Cheese!  Picture taking.  J looking frightened.)
Santa: "And what do you want for Christmas?"
J: "A boat."
Santa: "Oh, a boat.  Well, you make sure and be good and clean your room."
J (totally confused): "Okaayy."

"Cheese!  I think I'm supposed to be excited!!!!"

Tonight we did another fun Christmas tradition activity-- went to look at Christmas lights!  We did J's bath and jammies a bit early, then popped some popcorn, made J some chocolate milk, grabbed blankie and Giraffey and hopped in the car for a "Christmas ride." 

All ready to go!

After a stop at Starbucks for Mommy and Daddy, we stopped at a neighborhood in Ankeny where they have a "Gingerbread Lane" or something like that, and a cul-de-sac that has signs telling the story of "Frosty the Snowman."  Then we headed out to Beaverdale, 2 streets there had very impressive lights!  We drove around a bit more searching for another neighborhood or 2, and then headed home in the rain/snow/sleet.

**Disclaimer**
We haven't really "taught" Jeremiah about Santa, nor are we planning to.  He obviously has some knowledge of who Santa is, though.  At about 19 months old he was looking at a maternity pic of me and said, "Santa!!"  So, yep.  It's hard to NOT have your child exposed to Santa.  I wouldn't say we are encouraging J to actually believe that Santa brings his gifts on Christmas Eve, etc... I mean, how would that work anyway, when the kid has like 3 different Christmases?  We are definitely, of course, teaching J about the TRUE meaning of Christmas-- he knows all about Baby Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, and loves to sing "Away in a Manger."  But we see him visiting Santa, etc, as harmless fun.  As of right now, he told us that "When it snows, Santa will come."  He also thinks that Santa lives at Bass Pro Shop.