Christmas Traditions: Santa and the Pink Pig

We had an appointment to see Santa at Phipps Plaza on Friday at 4:00 PM. We weren't sure how Ryan would react to the jolly guy in red this year, and I was fully prepared to sit on Santa's lap too. We took lots of candy with us {for bribery}, told Ryan that if he wanted presents from Santa on Christmas, he had to tell him what he wanted, and then promised to go ride the Pink Pig {which he had been asking about all week after a picture he saw} after our visit. And it worked!

When it was Ryan's turn, Daddy put him on Santa's lap and he sat there while Santa talked to him, occasionally nodding his head in response to a question. I don't think he uttered a single word to Santa {he wouldn't even tell him how old he was ... and Daddy's answer was 3, which is jumping ahead a little too many days for my liking}, but there was no struggling to get away or tears. We even got some awesome pictures of Ryan and Santa SMILING to remember our 2011 visit :) Surprisingly though, Ryan wasn't interested in a candy cane after his visit, which is the only thing that helped last year.

Making a "wish list" for Santa.

Watching some other boys and girls visit
happily with Santa before our turn.

Nothing but smiles! :)

Big hugs for Santa until we see him again next year :)

Then we headed across the street to Lenox Square Mall to ride the Macy's Pink Pig, as promised. This was our third year riding the Pink Pig, and I loved that Ryan was so excited about it this year! He was a fan of the "old" Priscilla pig ... the one that they used when I was a little girl at Rich's downtown, and the tickets. R has enjoyed watching The Polar Express this Christmas season and has become a real fan of tickets as a result of that movie :) "Tickets please, tickets!"

Holding on tight to his tickets :)

This is the "old" pig that Ryan loved.
Too bad we couldn't ride in it!

We've had a lot of fun so far this Christmas season keeping traditions, and making new ones! Hopefully there is still time to squeeze in a few more, as well as some birthday parties :)