Santa with Nana

For the last few years, we have started a new tradition where my mom (Nana) goes with my family and my brother's family to see Santa and eat out. We have gone to Chicago three times. The first year, we saw Santa at Marshall Fields (when it was still Marshall Fields). The next two years we returned, but it was now Macy's. We enjoyed the lights of Chicago and dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. That has been memorable, but a lot of traveling. So, we decided to change the venue this year. Brian, the kids, and I went to Fort Wayne. My brother, Jake, and his son, Jake Jr., joined us as well. His wife, Erin, was in Key West, but sent palm tree cookies for us to enjoy later. We went to the Jefferson Pointe Mall to visit Santa. He had an outside house. We had to wait in a line outside (luckily it was a fairly nice day). When we got there, there were about 7 families in line. Score! Once we were in line, we noticed it barely moved. The door opened about every 7 to 10 minutes. Needless to say, the kids got very antsy and Lauren was finished before we got to Santa. Finally after about an hour, we made it inside. And boy, did Santa like to talk! Lauren wouldn't go near him without screaming. After Santa, we went to eat at The Gas House downtown. It was a nice meal. Mom even got the kids little toys to play quietly with at the table. After dinner, we had reservations to ride on the Horse Around Town. This was a 30 min. horse & carriage ride. We all really enjoyed it. Jake Jr. and Hayden kept yelling "Merry Christmas" at people as we passed by. They even sang Rudolph. It was cute. We all enjoyed our day visiting Santa with Nana. (Even though Lauren ended up with a high fever again at the end of the night.)