Santaland!

So, we braved the crowds of tourists today (something Jon and I generally despise) and headed down to Macy's on 34th Street to introduce Noah to Jolly Old St. Nick himself. I heard reports that it was totally worth the wait in line and that we wouldn't be disappointed, but of course I was still skeptical. However, I am happy to report that it was indeed a very magical Christmas experience even for me and even on a busy Saturday in NYC!

We seemed to arrive just before the major crowds started trickling in and I think I figured out the best route from the subway station to the elevators in Macy's so as not to get totally frustrated even before we arrived (maneuvering a sroller on those busy midtown streets can be SUPER annoying!). When we got in line, we weren't quite "in" Santaland and I started to get nervous about how Noah was going to survive the wait, but then as soon as we saw glimpses of giant trains, ice skating polar bears, skiing penguins, marching band bears, and giant alpahbet blocks (a recent obsession), I knew he would be fine.

As we were standing in line, I kept wondering how the line was moving so quickly -- I thought there was no way that people were on and off of Santa's lap so quickly, but I wasn't about to complain. It all became more clear, however, when "our" excited and very over-enthusiastic elf came and quickly ushered us to "our" Santa! Dude -- there were like 20 different Santas! HAHA! I couldn't believe it -- the whole process was such a well-oiled machine. The elfs would come and get you and try to distract the little kids from seeing any of the other Santas. I knew something was up because I had never seen so many "happy" employees of a NYC retail institution! I'm definitely not complaining though -- it was so easy to get into the Christmas spirit when everyone was so friendly and happy. And Santa? He was AWESOME! I loved him. I think I was playing out some unfulfilled Christmas experience from my childhood, because I was so taken with him. You could tell he must have been an actor, because he was just that good. He was so sweet with Noah and really let him warm up to him. He gave Noah "five" and Noah was automatically his best friend! We were really worried about how he would react to Santa due to his "stranger danger" angst of late... arg!... but he loved him.

Anyway, it was really fun and I encourage all you NYC mommies out there to make the trek -- it was totally worth it.