Santa, The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who

Oh Santa - delightful, lovable, squeezable Santa. Well... that's not exactly the way the wee Cain ladies feel about Santa.  I really thought this year might be the year that we turned the corner and loved Santa. Now to be fair, Catherine Ellis has never ever loved mascots, ever.  They are not her jam. She doesn't want near one - doesn't matter what it is, a dog, a tiger, a duck, no mascot for her.  

However, Caroline's never really had that fear and Catherine Ellis started talking about Santa and how much she liked him for the first time this year - so I was feeling confident that this might be our year.  We were scheduled for studio pictures with the best looking Santa I've ever seen, but I showed up Friday and our appointment wasn't until Sunday.  Needless to say, that Santa session didn't happen.

So I was delighted when I found out that Alex City's Holiday Open House had a Santa at Jackson's Drugs. The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who were also there!  As soon as I found out we dashed home, woke the girls up and headed out to see Santa.  The closer we got the more unsure Catherine Ellis was, but Caroline took on the role of reassuring Sissy, so it seemed like it was all going to work out, until we walked in the door...

And sitting on Santa's lap was out of the question.  So we compromised and sat them in front of the sleigh. CE looks frightened and Caroline... well she's not happy.  Santa was such a good sport - guess he's used to this!

So we talk Catherine Ellis into sitting on the reindeer - that went well.  So we asked her if she thought she might be ready to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas.  Nope.

The Grinch and Cindy Lou Who then rounded the corner and my children literally RAN to them... RAN. How is the Grinch not scarier than Santa??  It's so bizarre to me!  But hey, we embraced it and they were tickled to death at seeing Mr. Grinch and Cindy Lou Who and her magnificent hair do!



We decided to get our picture taken too!  Fun times!

Next thing you know, Catherine Ellis had ventured back over to Santa and was talking to him from afar. Just chit-chatting.

Here's CE's chat with Santa:

After her chat, I felt certain she was ready to sit in Santa's lap. Not so much.  So finally I sat in Santa's lap (he'll need a knee replacement soon!) and the girls joined me:

I quickly jumped out and we got the picture we'd been working so hard for!  The girls in Santa's lap, all smiles!  YAY!



Less than two seconds later Caroline was over Santa.  "All done Mommy, I all done!"

Catherine Ellis seemed to have finally warmed up for good and told Santa thank you, she then ran off to give Mr. Grinch and Cindy Lou Who another hug!  So funny!

And what do you know? Catherine Ellis ran up to Santa as we were leaving and gave him a big ole hug! Success is sweet indeed :)

We had a great time at Holiday Open House - such great small town stores and many old friends that we had the pleasure of running into!  We're starting to get excited about the holidays around the Cain house!