Buchanan Maine-ia: Santaland

The day after Thanksgiving, we decided to pay Santa a little visit at Macy's famous Santaland. It was SO much fun!! (Warning: photo dump!)

(Hard to get a good shot with all of the people - but the lettering in the upper corner says "34th Street")

Of course, the line is incredibly long, but fortunately, they have all sorts of things to look at while you're waiting! My children have never seen the original Miracle on 34th Street movie - I loved that they were playing it!

They have it set up as a train, as if you are waiting to take a train ride to the North Pole! It's SO much fun! I only wish I had thought to dress my children up a bit more; it didn't occur to me that we would be taking pictures with Santa (silly me!) Fortunately they look cute no matter what they are wearing! :)

Uh oh - they're already tired of taking photos! We're still at the beginning, children! :)

The train conductor was HILARIOUS! He talked a million miles a minute, was very enthusiastic, and cracked all sorts of jokes right off the cuff! It was very entertaining. He reminded me of the conductor in the "Polar Express" movie. Loved it!

Finally in the train (which we thought was the end....but was really just the beginning!)

Here, we met an elf, and Wiggles asked her if she was Santa's daughter. :)

We really enjoyed watching the elaborate trains that were set up!

A real, "Live" Teddy Bear Band! Wow!

Another elf was playing a game with Wiggles! I was amazed at how cheerful and friendly ALL the workers were - especially given all the chaos and thousands of people! Wow!

Finally, "Cookie" the elf came to take us back to Santa!

At last, the moment we were all waiting for arrived! SANTA! Wiggles was feeling a bit too shy to sit on his face, but Angel and Grins hopped right up! Santa was very patient, taking time to talk with each child individually.

Angel said she wanted an American Girl Doll, and Santa asked "Which one?" She explained that she wanted one that looked like her, and he said "I'll see what I can do," which, of course, Angel interpreted as "Yes, I will certainly bring that for you."

Grins asked for a skateboard and remote control airplane.

Wiggles asked for a real puppy, but Santa explained that he can't carry live animals on his sleigh, as it's too cold, and asked if there was anything else she might like. (He totally won me over on that one!!)

I was very impressed with Santa's kindness, patience and charm! He was certainly worth the wait (which, incidentally, was longer than one hour but felt as though it were just a few moments!)