Well of course Santa is real, here he is coming through the door!

Some friends of ours clued us into a great holiday tradition at a local Victorian restaurant, and we joined them this year for Tea with Santa.

The kids sat together and were remarkably well behaved, despite the considerable amount of sugar cubes (both in and out of the tea) which were consumed.

This left the grown-ups to their own sandwich tray (minus the PB&J). Scones with blackberry jam, lemon curd and clotted cream, pimento cheese and chicken salad sandwiches, and lots of cookies.

And tea, of course. Apricot for the moms and English Breakfast for the dads. Must be a man/woman thing.

This is the door that Santa came through. Each kid got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Can you believe that this was the first time Callum ever sat on Santa's lap? We had to prep him! (For the record, he asked for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, both the movie and the XBOX game.)

After that excitement, you dip another scone in the lemon curd and clotted cream and have another cup of tea. The kids get jittery from all the sugar, and some of us start to wonder if we'll make it home in time for kick off of the Dallas-Eagles game.

But there's one last thing! Carols around the piano! Santa has a great singing voice, let me tell you, and my kid can belt them out too. A few songs, and he was done, so even if we missed kick-off, we had a lovely afternoon, and we're home and cozy now. It's blustery outside, and as Santa kept reminding us: CHRISTMAS! IT'S NINE. DAYS. (oh crap, eight now) AWAY!