Fifteen to forever: Visiting Santa

The Monday after Thanksgiving, we dressed Madeline up and took her to visit the real Santa...the one at Macy’s on 34th street! We were anticipating long lines or crowds, so we figured early in the season, on a week day, in the early afternoon would be a good time. We had no idea it would be the perfect time. There was NO line and barely anyone there. We waited maybe 3 minutes while another family was taking pictures. The pictures were insanely expensive and terrible quality, but we knew that going in, and we figured it was a one time deal so we might as well splurge.

You have to take a long trip up 8 escalators (probably the longest part of the whole thing) and then you enter Santaland. It was insanely hot in there, so we didn’t spend too much time loitering at decorations, but it was all dressed up and super cute. There were all kinds different things to look at and if you were standing in line, it would definitely help. After you get to the end of Santaland, an elf escort will take you to Santa. We put Madeline in his lap and she did ok while they took the two pictures (though no smiles). Then all the sudden she looked up, realized she was with a stranger, and started to cry. He was really a good Santa though and super friendly. The whole trip took like 3 hours and that included a 1 hour bus ride each way, waiting a good 15-20 minutes for the bus, a bathroom break, and lunch.

In front of Macy’s

Checking out the window display. I thought she would be really into this, it was moving and playing loud music, but she was more into the people.

All decorated inside and insanely crowded

Ignore us and focus on the decorations

Playing with Christmas decorations

Countdown to Christmas

You can see one of the elf’s in this picture. They were scattered throughout and were WAY friendly. I mean…WAY friendly. I guess that is there job and the older kids probably loved it, but it was a little intimidating to our baby. Almost every single one said, “She is wearing red! That is Santa’s favorite color!”