Santa...friend or foe?

Emma is a BIG Santa fan...from a distance. She loves the idea of going to see him, but actually doing it is another matter altogether. Every year it's the same thing - we stand in line and watch her enthusiasm slowly wane with each step closer we get to the big red guy. By the time we reach Santa, we have to bribe/beg/force Em to even approach him. I believe last year was the only time we convinced her to stay put long enough for a photo, and that was only b/c I agreed to be in the picture too. (As you can see below, she was about ten seconds away from bolting for the door when the shot was taken.)

These Santa experiences from Christmases past are not very pleasant, for us or for her. (Or for Santa, for that matter.) So this year we decided to just write Santa a letter. But then Chris discovered this cute website where Emma could call Santa and leave a message. So that is what we did. If you click here before January and listen patiently to Santa's extremely long rambling at the beginning, eventually you can hear the message that Em left. It's kinda cute. And it was much less hassle than actual face-to-face time. Gotta love the Internet.