Santa Claus and Xmas Train

After much research, we pinpointed the one and only "real" Santa in the greater Chicago area.  He was biding his time until Christmas at an upscale mall in downtown (The Shops at 900 N. Michigan).  We heard horror stories of it taking 3+ hours of waiting for the honor to sit upon his plump lap.  So, of course, we had to go.  How could we miss the Christmas tradition of spending half a day preparing Maddie, packing bags and loading kid gear (bags/car seats/strollers) into the car, braving the cold weather and traffic to go to the worst place in the world (Michigan Avenue 2 Days before Christmas), parking halfway up a skyscraper, taking the elevator to the 8th floor, walking through 3 buildings and then taking the elevator down to the 3rd floor, and then standing in line with other people's bratty kids as they ignore them by staring into their phones?  Oh joy!

The wait wasn't as long as advertised and the line moved quickly.  The people in line behind us had kids 9 and 7 years old and had gone to see this exact same Santa every year.  It was their second attempt to see him this year as they had a fake/substitute Santa over the weekend.  I'm happy we came on a day the real Santa was here.

Santa was a cool character, personable, and joked(?) that he was actually a homeless guy they found at the last minute.  He also mumbled something about kids pooping on him all the time but I didn't quite hear him.  I'm not sure why he brought up poop.  Perhaps Maddie took a crap on him.  Who knew Santa had a sense of humor?

Below is a picture of Maddie with Santa. 

I also wanted a crying picture, so I did what any good dad will do and stalled Santa until Maddie broke down into a tantrum.

Here's the whole family in front of the giant Christmas Tree

And here's a picture of the Christmas Train in our backyard from last week