Holiday City Kid

My boy loves Manhattan and Santa probably equally, and he got to visit both in one day.

Call me crazy, but I pulled Liam out of school on Dec. 1st to go to see Santa at Macy's in the Herald Square flagship store. I didn't feel too bad since I knew he wouldn't miss out on much. Besides another mother did it, too. (That always makes it okay, no?) The weather was fairly warm (in the 50s) and we wanted to beat the crowds. It was perfect.

It played out like this: The wonder woman mom of four kiddos walked with a double stroller (for daughters: 6-month old and 2-year old) and her 5-year old daughter in tow, the prego mom with her own 2-year old toddler daughter, and I had Liam and his buddy (from mom number 1) both 4-years old, one in each hand. Whew! Needless to say, my arms got quite the workout.

The plan was to see Santa and then check out as many Christmas window displays as we could. It proved a bit much since we had to squeeze in lunch and all. Hooray for the dollar pizzeria just two short blocks away from Macy's! Liam had karate later in the afternoon, so all we had time for was Santa and the Macy's window displays. Still fun though, even with three school-aged children, two toddlers, one baby, three tired moms, one of which was preggers.

All six of these wonderful children were surprisingly well-behaved and cooperative. Of course, we played the Santa card quite a few times, especially on the boys, but everyone was super excited. (Not pictured are the two little girls in their strollers and the five-year old pleading to these ones to hurry up.)

The countdown!

Would have enjoyed these wonderful displays a lot more had we not flown by them because of the shortness of the line. No complaints here though.

Once there, after some photos opps with Santa, Liam got some one-on-one time with the big man who asked him point blank if he was a good boy and what he wanted for Christmas. Before Santa could even finish his sentence, Liam blurted out, "Star Wars Lego!" which rather startled Santa. He repeated Liam's request looking at me square in the eyes. Nicely done, Santa.

 

When we got to the ground floor, they took a moment to write and "mail" letters to Santa. Never mind that they had just seen him upstairs in "Santaland" and had made their request verbally. I guess they wanted it to be official, so no mistakes later.

Yes, Liam! There is a Santa Claus!

"If it's in The Sun it must be so."

They also "made" ornaments at the front window display, because, you know...

...ornaments represent Christmas wishes. So fun!

Yes, they wanted to hop on the NYPD motorcycles and no, I didn't let them. I convinced boys that a photo with them was just as cool.

Gazing up at the Empire State Building while discussing how to climb it!

Did I mention that my arms got quite the workout with these two? Love 'em! So fun!

We came home and he was glued to the ToysRUs magazine. 

Liam, my darling boy, I hope you love your presents!