Keeping Up with the Kramers

Thanksgiving came and went in a flash, so it seemed. Sam and Heather spent the day with her side of the family while Shawn worked, then the whole family headed to Palm Harbor for the weekend to see some of the Kramer clan. We had a great time catching up with everyone, but as usual, the time just went by way too fast.

And here we are now, in full swing of Christmastime. We started out the month by taking Sam to see his first musical production, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, at the Orlando Repertory Theater in Downtown Orlando. We weren't sure if Sam would have the patience to sit through an entire play, but we were delighted when he not only sat through it, he was completely engaged. He clapped, he danced and he exclaimed "OH NO!" when the abominable snowman tried to attack. We were so thrilled that he had such a good time.


We've been reading books about Santa and watching Christmas movies since the start of the season. Sam, all on his own, started saying "ho ho ho" and talking about Santa. We have even included Santa in the list of people that we say good night to at bedtime. This was all good prep for our annual trip to visit with Santa Claus!  Now, even though the visit went great last year, we weren't quite sure how Sam would do this time as an often rambunctious almost-two-year-old.  He's very good with the Disney characters and with meeting new people, so we were fairly optimistic.  We arrived at the mall on a Tuesday morning, ready with Sam's wish list and million-dollar smile!  We knew we'd be asking too much of him to wait in a long line (last year we only waited a few minutes, but this year the crowd was much heavier), so Daddy held a place in line while Mommy and Sam walked around and took trips up and down on the elevator. After a few laps around the mall and several elevator and escalator rides, it was finally our turn!

"Let's see, have I been naughty or nice?"

I love you, Santa!

We can officially call this visit a success!

Props to Theme Street Pictures... they really know how to pose these kids and have the right tools on hand to distract and get them to look in the right direction. They are serious pros, I have to say. And major kudos to Santa... he not only looks amazing (you know, for his advanced age and all), but he's really great with the kids. This is the second year in a row that we've gone to the Mall at Millennia to see Santa and we will keep coming back! P.S. Did you notice the Spiderman photo bomb in each of these shots?