Seeing Santa

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It's well documented here that we'd have been better off to name Jones "Kevin McAlister" for as much as he loves decorations. He loves decorations of ANY kind, but his excitement reaches a fever pitch come Christmastime.

It's the reason why we're taking him to see Dollywood all decked out on next Thursday, and it's the reason why we took him to see the Roper Mountain Holiday Lights this past Thursday.

Before eating Thanksgiving dinner with Mom and Daddy, Mom, Daddy, Jeremy, the boys, and I headed to Roper Mountain. After driving around once - Jones as enchanted as we imagined he'd be - we decided to park and take the boys to see Santa.

Let me backtrack a minute here.

Last year, the boys were CLUELESS about Santa. They called him a "Snowman" and had absolutely ZERO idea that HE was responsible for some of the toys under the tree.

As we watched Macy's Parade with my parents, though, Daddy made a big deal about Santa coming, and, as he rolled into Herald Square, I asked Jones, "Do you think he has a present in that sack for you, JoJo?" Jones answered excitedly, "I hope it's Stinky!"

So I'm assuming that, somewhere between last year and this, Jones has gone and figured out Kris Kringle.

Stinky, by the way, is a talking garbage truck that eats Matchbox cars and then dumps them out his tailgate. Where Jones learned about him is beyond me. I first heard of him when I took the boys to take Halloween pictures in the toy department at Kmart. Jones drifted toward a box on the bottom shelf, saying, "It's Stinky!" I looked at the box, and sure enough - STINKY!

But seriously. I don't recall seeing a commercial for him, and he doesn't have a cartoon, so I have NO IDEA how Stinky came to be the stuff of my son's holiday dreams.

Back to Roper Mountain...

As we got out of the car to go see Santa, I asked JOones what he was going to ask Santa for, and he quickly said, "Stinky!" Then I asked Freddie what HE was going to ask for. He looked WAY more unsure of himself and said, "A toy." He quickly changed his answer to, "JoJo's cwubhouse."

So in we went to see Santa.

There were probably 20 people in line in front of us - maybe more. Still, Santa spotted JOnes as he walked in. "I like your bowtie!" he said cheerily but gruffly. It kinda of took Jones off-guard, so he came to me with arms outstretched, saying, "Hold me! Hold me!" Of course, this caused me to worry about how he'd handle things when it actually came our turn.

But my worry was in vain (apparently, I forgot how well he handled seeing the Easter Bunny this Spring!). He did GREAT - BOTH boys did! When time came for a picture, both boys sat on Santa's lap, like they'd known him their whole lives. Then Santa said, "What do you want for Christmas?" Jones said, "Stinky!"

Santa laughed and said, "You're the first one to ask for THAT!" Freddie asked for a clubhouse.

We then waited in another line to buy what may be the cutest Santa picture EVER TAKEN, and as we pulled out of Roper Mountain, Jones waved to a lit-up Santa statue and said, "Bye, Santa!' Make sure you bring Stinky the Garbage Truck!"

The next nite, as we pulled out of Mom and Daddy's neighborhood to head back to Canton, Freddie asked from the way back of Mom's Suburban, "Pease go see Christmas lights?"

They're going to absolutely LOSE.THEIR.FLIPPING.MINDS when we go to Dollywood next week!