5...More...Sleeps...

Look at that face.  Is that not the face of anticipation??

Last night was the “Special O” Christmas bowling night where the big man shows up to “surprise” everybody. It was at this event 7 years ago that Riley surprised us all and went up to sit with Santa for the very first time.

Ever since, he has never looked back. At age 20, we even got our first Mall Santa picture.

Riley was eagerly awaiting Santa’s arrival. He was ready. He knew what to do…the same thing they have done for the past 6 years. They would call his name, he would bound up to sit on Santa’s knee and the conversation would go EXACTLY like this:

Santa:  What’s your name big fella?
R:  My name’s Riley Tucker.
Santa:  And what would you like for Christmas?
* At this point, Riley would recite his entire Christmas list *  This year's list...
R:  Frosty the Snowman the original TV classic with the cover from Amazon I found it a DVD player 3 movie Illumination Despicable Me 1, 2 and 3 Shrek the Ultimate Collection Madagascar the Ultimate Collection Cheaper by the Dozen 1 and 2. 
Santa:  I’ll see what I can do for you.

This year…well…*gulp*…they did things a little differently. To be more efficient, they called up the teams one at a time and everyone got to sit on Santa’s knee and have a picture taken. There was not a lot of chit chat. I saw things slowly slipping sideways.

This was very confusing for Riley. He had been waiting patiently to have his “conversation” with Santa. He went up, sat on Santa's knee and waited for Santa to start.

Only he didn't. He smiled for the camera. And then he waited. 

Some awkward silence.

Santa gave him his cookie which basically was the “get off my knee and move along” gesture. Riley World has a hard time understanding gestures. So…Riley sat there still waiting.

Look how excited he is about the cookie.

More awkward silence.

And just as I was about to call Riley down, Santa asked “What would you like for Christmas?” followed by the “I’ll see what I can do for you.”

With that...all was right in Riley World and he had his jacket on and was out the door in the blink of an eye. 

Wishing you all a wonderful & safe holiday season!!