Pink Pig and Santa!

Earlier this week we completed one of our very favorite holiday traditions...riding Macy's Pink Pig.

This is our 8th year riding the Pink Pig and visiting Santa and we have always gone with the same friends.  Once the kids all started school we started planning an afternoon during the week to go and this year we just could not all coordinate our schedules so we figured we would go the first day of our break.  That was a mistake...a BIG mistake.  You see, we thought getting there right when they open would help us to beat the crowds, but everyone in Atlanta must have had the same idea as us.  The line just to buy tickets to get on the ride was longer than I had ever seen it.  We waited almost an hour just for tickets and then we had to get in another line to get on the ride.

The kids were all really good sports and because they don't see each other that often they had a lot of catching up to do, whch helped fight the boredom of waiting in line so long.

Then we finally made it up to the front of the line and it was our turn to ride!!!

After the ride we checked out all of the merchandise that was all 50% off!!! We have an ornament that we hang on our tree each year, but I usually say no to buying other stuff because we don't need more stuffed animals, etc.  But, these sweatshirts were so cute and such a great deal that we all ended up getting them for our kids. (And these three wanted to put them on as soon as we got home!)

Because we had waited so long we decided to grab lunch before seeing Santa and guess what...more lines!  Of course all of the kids wanted Chick-fil-a and that was where the longest lines were.

Next we were ready to see the big man in red.  They made lists for Santa the night before and had been talking all about what they were going to tell them they wanted for Christmas. When we got there the line wasn't too bad, but I had heard Santa needed to eat lunch at some point and just as I had suspected, as we were waiting in line he had to go take a break.  Understandably so, but still it meant more waiting.  I wasn't about to get out of line at this point and we were positioned right in front of the TV they had playing movie previews and other things that kept the kids entertained so we just waited.  And I'm glad we did, because when he came back we were one of the first ones in line so it didn't take too long.

The kids were so excited to show Santa their lists, tell them how good they have been, and smile for a quick picture.

It was a really fun day with friends and we are so happy that we got to keep up with our annual tradition, but lesson learned.  Next year we will go back to our plan of going during the week to avoid the crazy long lines and wait times!