last year’s visit with santa was successful yet unsuccessful. it was fun and interactive but olive’s time with santa was terrifying for her. alas, this year was no different! eep!

we arrived a few minutes late to our scheduled appointment time but santa’s house was running behind anyways. it was quite chilly out, so it was nice that we could wait inside until it was our turn to go on our adventure to visit santa.

olive was not having it. since she’s turned two, she has been so anti-crowds, anti-strangers. there were two other families waiting inside with us and olive did not want to be in there with them. she screamed, she shrieked, she wanted to go outside and be away from everyone. she kept saying, “outside! outside!” and pointed at the door. hc insisted that we stay put. i was upset because olive was upset and we couldn’t console her. she was screaming at the top of her lungs and these poor strangers had to listen to it!

within a minute or so, it was our turn to go on the adventure with santa. well, olive’s mood inside the waiting room set the tone for the rest of the event. ugh. she was so frustrated and upset throughout most of the tour. it was stressful and i all i wanted was for olive to enjoy the fun trip to the north pole! she did enjoy the interactive screens and part of the sleigh ride to the north pole {although there were some parts with the dragon that scared her!}. when she saw the dragon on the screen, she started crying and buried her face in my side. awww, poor thing!

we finally arrived at the north pole and we were waiting our turn to see santa! the whole week and time leading up to her visit, i tried my best to prep olive on the idea of santa claus. she recognized him and would point him out, so i was hoping that when she saw him in person, it would be a familiar face that she would be looking at!

hahaha. nope. what was i thinking?! that was a far fetched hope of mine! we walked into the room and immediately, she freaked out. she started whimpering and frantically clung onto me. santa stood up and said we could sit in the chair to take a family photo together. oh em gee. the look on olive’s face is hilarious. she was like, “i still know there’s a strange man behind me in a red suit.”

santa was a trooper. after a few family pics together, he was ready to take on olive. the photos captured are hilarious. i didn’t post them all but these are the best ones!  there were a few more screaming poses, where olive looks like she’s fighting for her life but i felt like the two down below were the most descriptive of her visit with santa!

after our visit to the north pole to see santa, we were magically transported back to oakbrook center! haha! after our adventure, we decided to check out the christkindl mart to see what it’s all about. we perused the cute little shops and purchased some potato pancakes to munch on. they were deeeeeelish! yum! olive was most piggish over them, she became upset when hc or i tried taking a bite. what a little piggy! she insisted on having the last bite and after she did, she said, “all done!”. yeah, no kidding olive, all done alright miss piggy! ha!

[she was very unsure of what was going on and shrek scared her!]

[ready for a sleigh ride to the north pole!]

[we loved all the interactive screens for the kiddos]

[immediately, she was like, “who is this man in the red suit?! i don’t like.”]

[classic]

[santa was sooo good with her! actually, he was quite funny.]

[christkindlmarket at oakbrook]

[sooooooo yummy!]

after we walked around the christkindl mart for a bit, we decided to head home and get cozy for the rest of the evening! it was fun {well, maybe olive didn’t think it was as fun} and we really enjoyed our little festive evening together visiting santa. ho ho ho!

xoxo