Last year, I wrote a pretty extensive post about our visit to see Santa at Merrifield Garden Center. This year, we set out on a weeknight with the goal of avoiding some of the really big crowds to go see Santa. I really can't sing the praises for this place enough, but they implemented some really great changes this year. First of all, you don't have to stand in line anymore! Praise be! After arriving, you take a number and one of Santa's helpers will even grab your cell number and, get this, text you when it's your turn! What do you do while you wait? Well, in one room they had Frozen playing (genius), in another room they had the more traditional Christmas cartoons playing, and also had tables set up with coloring books and crayons.
Like last year, Santa spent a good deal of time to listen to ALL of the things on Nate's list list (N came prepared!), to ask him Nate if he was a good boy this year, and to answer questions about why his living room was set up like it was and where the reindeer were while Santa was talking to him. We also paid only $5 to have four digital images emailed to us! Such a bargain!
Another thing that this place does that I absolutely adore is that at the end of the visit, Santa asks your child to pick his or her favorite color from a basket of ribbons. After cutting off a piece, Santa tells your child to hang the ribbon on your tree on Christmas Eve and then on Christmas morning, it will be wrapped around one of the things that your child asked for. We did this last year with some of the stuffed animals that Nate asked for and he was absolutely awestruck that Santa remembered. Such a great touch to really keep the magic alive!
Here are some moments from their visit:
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