Santa Claus is coming to town....

....but we won't be there to see it.

Some of you may recall that last year we went to see Santa arrive in DeWitt on a fire truck. We waited in line for about 20 minutes. In December. In Iowa. It was a bit chilly.

And the minute Santa began climbing down from the truck, Soren and Rory both began screaming. (I realize scream is a strong word, but it may not be strong enough to describe what they did given the close quarters and proximity of their mouths to my ears.) So we did not "see" Santa anymore than that. No lap-sitting. No requests. Nothing.

So this year we skipped the entire arrival-of-Santa festival (or whatever they call it) and tried to be more low-key. On the last possible day to visit Santa in DeWitt, I announced we should go tell him what we wanted. Immediate responses:

Soren: "I'll stay home with Daddy. You take Rory and Beck."
Rory: "Oh goody! I'm gonna tell him I want a giraffe!"
Beck: Grinned a grinny grin, catching the excitement already.

It turned out Rory's enthusiasm quickly waned. "I just don't feel like it." Okay. I wasn't going to re-create last year's scene, so Chris only took Beck. He seemed happy enough to go. He asked Santa for a new snowblower. (Chris did, anyway. Beck can't talk yet.)

I told the girls I didn't know if Santa would bring toys to girls who didn't sit on his lap. And then I got a lecture from Rory.

Here are the reasons Santa will bring you presents, even if you don't go to visit him (according to Rory, of course):

#1- "He loves all the children."
#2- "I've been kinda good this year...kinda."
#3- "I haven't lied. This year."

So we'll see what happens. Will Santa bequeath them with gifts? Check back in a week or so and we'll see what's what.