The Ultimate Santa Experience: Family Photo

It's that time of year again. Christmas music playing in every store, smells of pumpkin spice and pine trees, and the colors red and green literally everywhere. It's the holidays! Now that Halloween has passed, it's time to start shopping for those Thanksgiving dinner items and ingredients. Don't forget, it's also time to start preparing for Christmas!

 Yes, I know, Thanksgiving is technically the next holiday coming up, but Christmas requires so much more preparations. In my case, it is my son's first Christmas so I may be a little biased. A child's first Christmas is always memorable and full of so much love and joy. You want to make the best of it so it remains one of the most cherished memories you have with your little one while they are still little.

First Christmas Card

Making a Christmas card is part of many family's traditions. Everyone gets dressed up in red, green and white and poses with one another for that perfect holiday photo. Many families take their own photos at home, smart and cheap. Others choose to go and get professional shots done. 

This year, for my son's first Christmas, I wanted to have a photo with the one and only Santa Claus.

Adventure With Santa

Earlier this afternoon, my family and I went to our local mall, The Parks Mall at Arlington. A few days prior, I had made a reservation online to lock us in for an appointment for Adventure With Santa: The Ultimate Santa Experience. Glad I did because it was rather busy for it being it's first day open. The staff was shocked as well.

This wasn't just sitting with Santa and taking a photo, this was so much more.

 How it starts, you line up with another family or two outside the entrance to the attraction. One of "Santa's helpers" leads the way as you go inside of the Christmas themed building. You go room to room watching interactive videos, even take a sleigh ride while watching a video in an omni-like theater with fans and misters (for the fake snow feel). It was incredible. Kids absolutely loved this.

Towards the end, families individually went in to finally meet Santa Claus. This is when we took our family photo.

We also had extra in the moment photos taken.

The Experience

This experience was unforgettable. To see videos from the experience, check out my Twitter or search #holidays2014. 

I know it's still early, but now my family has our first Christmas photo taken for our first Christmas card. If you plan on sending cards this year, be like me, do it early. Less stress for the busy mom.

Questions?

Have any questions? Comments? Maybe even another Christmas card idea? Let me know, I'd love to hear from you!

Also, don't forget to follow my Twitter where you'll be able to read all about my busy mom experiences and tips.