Who's been naughty?

It's that time of year, the time of year I so look forward to every year.  The time of year I always think about my parents and the wonderful times we shared around the holidays.  Decorating cookies, making gingerbread houses, putting up the lights, watching christmas movies.  Now it's my turn as the parent.  I am so excited to be able to create my own memories and traditions this holiday season.

Every parent looks forward to it.  The first time they can sit their child on Santa's lap so he/she can "tell" him what they want for Christmas.  When you think about it, it's kinda creepy right?  Why do we get so excited to put our child on the lap of a strange overweight man who hasn't shaved in who knows when?  But we do it every year, and snap photos in order to embarrass our children when they start dating.  Well, I won't have any trouble embarrassing Zach after our recent trip to the PX.

Before I get to the photo.  I must explain that this is not the first time Zach has gotten to see Santa.  We went to Yankee Candle in MA with my mom in July and Zach got to meet Santa then.  He was a perfect little boy with santa.  And Santa was the perfectly imagined Santa.  He was chubby, and had a real beard and was a really nice man.  He just lit up when he saw Zach!

This was Zach's christmas list back in July

Zach and Santa.  He was fascinated by that REAL beard!

Because we live in Japan, it's not so easy to just find a fat man with a white beard to play santa.  There are military here, and they have strict weight restrictions and haircuts to abide by.  Instead, the local high school has volunteers come and play Santa!  Last year, it actually was our friend's son, Matt!
And so, we went to the PX and had our 10 month child sit on the lap of some 17 year old kid dressed in a red suit with a fake beard.
We were so excited for this event, we even put Zach in his newest Carters outfit.  With a cute pair of jeans and a shirt that reads: "I ate Santa's cookies."  Perhaps he thought Santa was going to be mad at him for eating his cookies, maybe the idea of a stranger with a beard holding him was scary.  All I know is I now have a photo to look back at in the years to come and laugh!  The worst part?  Dima and I laughed the entire time.  I even took this amazing photo while laughing at my son's expense.

Zach is officially on the naughty list