My eldest has been asking 'When Father Christmas coming Mummy?' she is slowly understanding Christmas and has picked up quite a lot. If you ask her how do we know its Father Christmas she replies ' Red Hat, Red Coat, Red Trousers, Black Boots, and White Beard.' and what does he have ' Reindeer and lots of presents for me'. We look all around for Father Christmas every where we go, today I took the girls to meet him.
I wasn't sure what the girls would make of visiting Father Christmas. Last year my eldest just screamed at him and she is in the phase of people dressed up scare her. It would be a new experience for my youngest too as it is her first Christmas. I wanted to do something a little different and so I took the girls to the National Coal Mining Museum [NCM].
The NCM is probably not the first place you would think of taking two small children to visit Father Christmas, but it was worth every penny. I put on my hard hat which my girls looked at me with confusion and we entered the lift to the 140m mine shaft. Down we went into the dark, the girls looked a little scared but as we sang Jingle Bells and everyone was laughing they soon cheered up.
We got to the bottom of the mine and went through some doors. The guides and elves kept shining lights into different sections of the mine as we all looked for Father Christmas. Another door opened into a tunnel. This tunnel was different though and decorated. The tunnel glowed with magic and at the end of the tunnel was a little house, Santa Grotto said the door sign. My eldest could not believe it, we had found Father Christmas house. My youngest was looking at everything around her all the bright glowing decorations.
We patiently waited our turn and in we went. My eldest eyes lit up when she saw him sat on his chair. The room was beautifully decorated like a lovely living room, complete with a coal fireplace! 'Whose that?' I asked her, 'Father Christmas' she replied with a smile. He spoke to her and she told him she wanted 'Reindeer and Aeroplane' for Christmas. He gave her a chocolate and a present, which she could not believe. Just before we left he gave her some Christmas magic in her hand, and asked her to sprinkle it on his reindeer outside.
The other side of the grotto was just as well decorated with a sleigh, trees and reindeer. We all got to sit in the sleigh and then my eldest sprinkled the magic onto the reindeer. Back we went in the lift to the surface. My girls both got a certificate to say they had seen Father Christmas and that they are on the good list. Each got a lovely present too.
My eldest has not stopped talking about how she has seen Father Christmas today, she had such a wonderful time. She held her hand tightly closed until 4pm, we saw Father Christmas at 11, because she did not want to let go of the Christmas magic he had given her. She really did have a wonderful time, its a shame we could not take any photos but the girls will have such lovely memories of their visit today.
This day I love Deep Underground
.jpg "Janome Sewing Machine")
