Meeting Santa Claus

We went and saw Santa Claus last week. I was determined that I would take him this year. Last year he did not go and I've lamented about it all year long.
He was such a good boy as we waited in line for Santa. Of course mommy wasn't thinking clearly, because we got in line right about 11:30...lunch time. I normally always have some sort of snack in his diaper bag, whether it's goldfish or a Fruitabu, and I always have a drink for him. Well not on this day. He was hungry the whole way through the line and got ancy towards the end. He was pointing to his mouth and whining. He then spotted a boy in a stroller behind us and the boy had an unpeeled banana sitting in the tray in front of him. Gabriel walked up and pointed to it and almost grabbed it. I quickly picked him up and apologized to the mom and said, "sorry, he's hungry." I truly just said this to justify his actions. But the mom gave him half of the banana. That was really generous and sweet of the lady. Gabe gobbled that banana up so fast. And then it was time to meet Santa. We waited in line for about 30 minutes. I wasn't sure what to expect. Casey and I had been talking a lot about Santa the past week and pointing him out whenever we could. He then started pointing to Santa and saying "anna." Mom replies, "Yes, that's Santa."
He actually walked up to Santa and only hesitated a little. He sat in his lap and just leaned his head away from Santa's head. I think he didn't like the beard so much. He was so cute, though. No tears and just as brave as he could be. As we were walking away, I said, "Ok Santa, Please bring us a bike and a train." So we've been talking this train and bike thing up pretty good. And now when we ask Gabe what Santa's going to bring he says, "kike" "choo choo." I cannot wait for Santa Claus to come to our house. Christmas was always such a big deal at my house. I found out the Secret of Santa in 4th grade but we always continued to do Christmas the same and then of course, Lauren was born so Santa always came to our house!!!
But now that I'm older and trying to establish new traditions for my family, I question how much emphasis I really want to place on Santa. It's hard to not just do what you grew up with, especially since it was such a good experience. But I do want Gabe to understand what Christmas is really all about. So we talk about this a lot. My sister and I plan on baking a cake on Christmas day and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. This makes so much sense to me now. I remember hearing about someone doing this before and thinking it sounded strange. (Don't ask me why). I mean this will really speak the children's language because they understand birthdays! I tell Gabe that on Christmas it will be Jesus' birthday and we will sing...and I proceed to sing the song. He seems to love the Birthday song and always gets really calm and quiet when I sing it. He's so precious.

Casey just recently taught him how to give eskimo kisses. So adorable! That's all for now.