Mark has finally caught on to the tradition of Santa at Christmas.  Momma has been very reluctant to throw him into the consumerism of the season and quite frankly last year he would have had a melt down if I had tried to bring him to the bearded stranger.  Momma is no Grinch, however I do not like the flavor of spend, spend, spend...to no end, at this time of year.  We have great difficulty in cramming anymore toys into our living room so we have been keeping it low key.  The beauty of it all is that this sweet boy asks for nothing!  He always responds to any new or used item that I have found with a polite, but heartfelt... "Thank-you Mommy".  It almost breaks my heart that he seems content with anything or nothing.  Who knows what is behind this lack of want.  Where is the never ending demanding that you are supposed to expect from kids these days.  What ever the reason...our little lad appreciates everything and never asks for anything.  If a newly presented item is something really to his liking he will respond with a quick intake of breath, a big 'ol smile and a look of amazement that Mommy scored big time in her thrift shopping and found exactly what he wanted.  This was especially the case when Momma found a Mike Wazowski figure from Monsters Inc.  Seems that Monsters, Bob the Builder and Franklin are the new hot items these days.  Little Bear, the Wiggles and Diego are fading to the rear.  It is funny when he tells me that he will have to go tell Franklin something that Bob is doing.  How quickly they grow.  I think that he is more in touch with Franklin because Franklin goes to school and Mark is feeling that they have more in common.  Anyway there will be lots of Monsters, Franklin and Bob stuff under our tree this year.  Merry Christmas son.  Momma and Daddy will be sure to keep the real meaning of Christmas in the forefront of our holiday celebrations!  JESUS IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON!  Peace to your household during the holidays and in the New Year.  Enjoy the photos of Mark's first visit with Santa.  We celebrated with his cousin Ashley at the Fellowship Christian Reformed Church in St. Thomas where we had the Foster Family Association Christmas Party.  I have to show you the video clip of Mark's excitement when Santa came into the building:  Enjoy the moment!