Santa and Temple Square

This past Saturday morning, we headed to the mall to see Santa.  Little did we know, they now refuse to let you use your own camera to take a picture of your kids with Santa, and there was no way in heck I was paying $25 for a picture of my kids crying and/or screaming.  But I'll show you what we did get:

Santa arriving via train.

My kiddos waiting oh so patiently to tell Santa what to bring them for Christmas.

You don't smell like Santa...

 Kaden did such a good job and went up on his own (without me pulling him up, I mean) and asked if it was okay if he sat next to Santa instead of on his lap.  Lexi, of course, followed suit and sat next to Santa (she's had no problem in the past sitting right on his lap, but since Kaden is her big brother, she copies his every. move).  Right about the time Shane shoved a screaming Ari on Santa's lap, I was told no personal pictures.  They waited for me to say, "Oh, alright, I guess I'll give you my arm and leg..." but it never happened.  Instead, we headed over to RC Willey for free hot dogs and soda.  When we pulled in, Shane turned around to the kids and said, "This is our favorite restaurant!"  Oh geez.  The things he's teaching our children...

After my kids ate their weight in hot dogs, we walked out to the main floor and saw Santa had arrived and, guess what?  Not only was there NO line, but they were offering FREE pictures because RC Willey rocks.

I have no idea how Santa got Kaden to sit on his lap.  He must have been the real Santa for that.

I had to take a picture of a picture, so sorry about the low, really, really bad quality of this pic:

That is the free pic they printed out for us there.  I love that Ari is screaming AND somewhere along the way she lost one of her shoes.  (It was Shane's fault, of course, and I found the shoe before we left.)

Random fact: both Kaden and Lexi asked Santa for Buzz Lightyear and Princess "computers."  They're not actual computers (I'll show you a pic of them in a few days), but you should have seen the look on Santa's face when a 3 and 4 year old were asking for computers.  HAHAHA  It was awesome. 

We took the kids home for naps after that, and I headed out for some last minute Christmas shopping.  When I got home, we bundled the kiddos up and headed for Salt Lake.

It was FREEZING!

The nativity floating on the Reflecting Pool.

No matter how many times I see it, the beauty of the temple never ceases to amaze me.

Can you imagine having to put ALL of those lights on?!

I love that lights covered everything.  :)

Growing up, my family never visited Temple Square to see the Christmas lights.  I love that it reminds us the true meaning of Christmas and re-centers our focus at this wonderful time of year.  This is definitely a tradition we will be keeping up for years to come.