We saw Santa … before Thanksgiving.

THIS. IS. A. BIG. DEAL.

Let me first set the scene. I pre-registered my email address for McKenna to see Santa at Phipps back in like March. Maybe earlier. But seeing Santa at Phipps is like an Atlanta tradition and rumor has it, homeboy makes six figures in 2 short months because he is LEGIT.  Emails started going out to reserve your spot to see Santa [ yes, you have to make an appointment to see Santa ] near the end of September and they send out 300 emails per day until all the slots are reserved. Well. September ended and I still had not received my email and the panic that hard started, it got worse.  Then October rolled a round and daily, nothing.  THEN FINALLY on the 6th of October, McKenna Marie Shanahan was invited to see Santa at Phipps for the first time. And when I say I dropped everything at work to grab a spot… I DROPPED EVERYTHING. My children-less coworkers thought I was losing my mind, but I don’t care, McKenna was invited to see Santa at Phipps. And when I got to the page to book our appointment there was one weekend day left and the earliest Santa was available that day was 6:45 PM.  And I paid my $20 [ $15 of which gets credited to your photo packed ] and booked that 6:45 PM appointment on NOVEMBER 1st. Yes. McKenna got to visit Santa before Thanksgiving. But this is me not caring.  We got a coveted spot to see Santa at Phipps.

So fast forward. it isn’t even Thanksgiving and McKenna got to see Santa.  She told Santa she wanted books and an exersaucer and clothes and Baby Einstein DVDs and fun age appropriate toys {whatever those may be}.  BUT! She did really really well.  She was more confused what was going on and why there was a weird man shaking maracas at her. This all explains the dazed look.  But I will have to say, it was a good experience and not having to wait in a long line to see Santa is worth the pre-registration fee.

I cannot wait for the adorable Christmas cards we ordered this week! And I cannot wait to make this a family tradition.  Maybe in the future I won’t have to stress over if we will get an email invite or not.  But, it was well worth it.

Oh – and Santa came to daycare yesterday.  Evidently she did very good with that Santa too.  Wonder what she told that Santa she wanted. =D