Santa Baby? Not this year

Following last year's epic meltdown when Magnus met Santa, Dee and I began prepping him for weeks prior to their reunion. With multiple copies of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, special ordering The Bernstein Bears meet Santa Bear, discussing exactly what would happen when Magnus did reunite with Jolly 'ol Saint Nick, as well as having him watch other children climb onto Santa's lap with giddiness at the various malls around town, we were in Santa training. When the big day had arrived, Magnus could not have been more excited. He knew exactly what he was going to tell him he wanted (cookies and hot sauce, naturally) and all morning he kept asking, "When are we going to see Santa Claus?" While we waiting in line outside Santa's hut, Magnus bounced around and talked about the candy cane Santa was going to give him. As the elf walked out to let us in, Magnus took my hand and slowly inched his way into the hut. As soon as he rounded the corner and saw the man in red, he looked up at me and said, "hold me." As I tried to encourage him onto Santa's lap, he begain to cry, "up, up." Thinking it would be a good idea to put Alden on Santa's lap and then his brother would realize it was okay and join him, (because surely Alden wouldn't object, right?) we did so. One look at this strange man and Alden lost it altogether. With Alden screaming, Magnus began crying, and then we had no choice but to put Magnus on his lap as well and grab a quick picture (we had waited in line and all.) So, a couple snapshots later, we saved our children from Santa's lap and were trying not to giggle as we selected another memorable meltdown moment with Santa Claus.

Moments after we left Santa's hut, Magnus was enjoying his candy cane and pointing out all the Santa decorations around the mall.