Our children attended their first holiday celebration thrown by the taekwondo studio they joined this past summer.  The 3-hour event was tons of fun with good food, a belt ceremony, and awards.  The evening was topped off with a "surprise" visit from Santa, whose helpers toted two huge sacks filled with gifts.  The helpers handed Santa each gift, who then called each child up to sit on his lap for a photo.

Now the gifts were really brought by the parents.  Our family was one of the firsts to arrive, so our gifts were way at the bottom of the Santa's ginormous sack.  Somehow, Luke's gift ended up somewhere in the middle.    It's a good thing because I think he was going to burst if he had to wait much longer.

Makenzie's and Jake's gifts, however, were way down at the bottom.  They were among the last children to be called.  I have to commend them for their patience.  They both sat very still, listening eagerly for their names and never taking their eyes off of Santa.  My husband and I could tell that they started to wonder if there were gifts for them in that sack or not.  It was torture for them, but they waited seated on the floor without a peep until their names were finally called.  What a happy moment that was!