Round 1 Ava, Round 2 Santa

After almost meeting Santa on Sunday, I was determined for her to actually meet the big guy. I talked to some of the "elves" before we left on Sunday at Bass Pro and was told that Tuesday around 6 would be a good time to come back. The plan was no set. We arrived at Bass Pro a little before 6 and headed in to get into the short line. The line was actually a good thing because it gave Ava ample time to check this Santa character out. She was waving to him and saying hi the entire 20 minutes we were in line. By the time we were up, I was confident there would be no tears...and I was right. He talked to her about Dora before he tried to hold her. She just stared at the floor the whole time doing her shy routine. She let him hold her and we got a tearless and smileless picture. That Santa was the sweetest and nicest Santa I have ever met. He took his time with her and was so friendly to us too. We will definitely be going back next year. Round 1 goes to Ava...yea!!

Round 2 however was a completely different story. Bass Pro is near my dad's house so we decided to eat dinner with him and my brother and my niece after seeing Santa. This was also the same night the Pattonville Fire Department's Santa was coming around my dad's neighborhood for all the kids to see Santa. This is their 26th year to bring Santa around to all the neighborhoods. We ate our chili and then saw the lights of Santa coming down the street. Santa comes down the street pulled by a fire truck or ambulance and Santa is on his sleigh on a trailer bed with all the lights going and horns blaring. The truck goes really slow...usually. This year they were going a lot faster and we had to dash outside so Santa would stop outside my dad's house. I had to rush Ava into her coat and hat and then out the door we went. I opted to sit with Santa and Ava. Ava immediately burst into tears the second she saw this Santa. You can see from the pictures that she was not a happy camper. There were tears and snot bubbles. Poor, young, fireman Santa didn't know what to do with her. We snapped our pictures and then off Santa went. I think he was happy to be on to the next house! Ava was a trooper though. After all, she sat with 2 strange men dressed in funny red suits in one night. Round 2 definitely went to Fireman Santa!