Unexpected visit with Santa

To close out an eventful weekend that included Citadel Homecoming events, Thomas’ final soccer game and a Citadel football game, after lunch on Sunday we strolled down King Street to enjoy Second Sunday (when they close the streets off to cars from 12-sometime late in the afternoon from Calhoun to Queen Streets. 

The weather was especially lovely, Nana & Umpa were still in town and it was just a wonderful day.  To top it all off, we heard rumblings that Santa had stopped by to enjoy it too.  The boys were excited…was it really him?  They soon found that it was!

Actually it was really funny…  We waited in line for a few minutes (he was taking such a long time with the children…it was so sweet) and when it was time for the boys’ turn, Santa said he needed a quick break to stretch his legs.  I thought the boys were going to get impatient quickly, but then Santa engaged them and asked if they wanted to learn how to properly say “Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!” just like Santa.

You put your hands on your belly, take a deep breath in…and then let out the breath while saying the magic words from deep within your belly…

The boys didn’t take their eyes off of him and listened to his every word and piece of advice.  It was so cute.

Then it was time to sit with the big guy…

Santa asked them what they wanted.  Thomas told him all about some double shooting (Nerf) gun he has been eyeing out of the ToysRUs catalog.  Parker, on the other hand, was much more interested in immediate gratification.    He saw a bag of small candy canes in the sleigh and every time Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, he just emphatically said, “A CANDY CANE!”  Ha!  Wouldn’t it be great if that’s all it took!

We certainly weren’t expecting to see Santa, but I’m glad we did (and so were the boys).  While I’m generally not in favor of talking too much about Christmas before we’ve even celebrated Thanksgiving, we were most thankful to see Santa taking a little Charleston break before he gears up for his big day!