Visiting Grandpa and Santa

Today is the 3rd anniversary of my dad's passing. Since Aynsli was so little when he died, and Emi has never met him in this life, I wanted to make sure that we have a tradition about Grandpa. He was such a wonderful man, and loved his family so much. I want to make sure that my girls know that. That they can know him, even if he isn't here.

So we go and visit Grandpa's grave, and then go to dinner with Grandma. Aynsli drew a picture for Grandpa, so we put it in a sheet protector, and took it with us to his grave. I am sure that Grandpa was smiling. Both my mom and I were kind of sniffling once we got back in the car. Aynsli asked why Grandma was sniffling...I told her because she missed Grandpa. Aynsli said, "Don't worry grandma, you'll see him soon enough!" Lets hope not too soon!!

After dinner we went to visit Santa. Last year Aynsli absolutely would not sit on Santa's lap. The closest we could get, was her standing next to him. This year she wasn't really sure she wanted to do that either. But, she was absolutely positive that Santa would bring her a cupcake maker for Christmas. I told her that the ONLY way Santa could MAYBE even do that, was if she sat on his lap and told him that is what she wanted. There was lots of careful consideration, and even some volleying back and forth whether or not she would actually do it, but in the end, she did it! Aynsli sat on Santa's lap on told him what she wanted! Well, ok, she sat next to him on the couch, but at least she let him put his arm around her for the picture.