Portable North Pole-Dec. 15th

I wrote about this last year, you can read the post here. I thought the Portable North Pole was THE coolest thing I had ever seen. I still have no idea how Fred found it but I am so glad he did. After seeing Mason's reaction to it last year, I knew we had to continue this as a tradition, and just as I was thinking about it, I got an email from someone at the PNP. How cool that they read my blog! Apparently they had great success last year and added some new features for the 2010 season.

I highly suggest you check them out for next year, if you haven't already. Putting a video together was new for me since it was Fred who created it all last year but it was super easy. When you go to the site you choose between toddler, child or grown-up. Next you answer a series of questions as to what you would like your child to work on behaviorally and whether or not they made a reasonable effort, what you expect from them over the holidays, and what part of the North Pole you think they would most like to visit. Then you get to choose a few pictures to upload, such as a family vacation or birthday party and enter a gift the child has been wanting. Seriously, this thing is cool. Though I think I had the most fun watching each of my child's reactions to their custom video from Santa.

Mason, having been through this once before, got to tour the Reindeer Training Center and spent the video answering Santa's questions and talking with him on the video. Though he was still surprised at how Santa knew he was in school, was four years old, and about his awesome vacation to the beach. He agreed he needed to work on being nice to his sister and waved good-bye to Santa when it was all over. However, the best part was his face when he saw what gift Santa knew he'd been asking for.

He turned to me and said, "Mommy, Santa's bringing me a red Camaro with black stripes! YES!" All I could think was, Shit. Now I have to go out to the store and frantically search for a red Camaro with black stripes. All because that was the first photo I found on the internet. Lucky me that I found one within the first few minutes of searching in the car aisle at Target. Christmas Miracle it was, I swear.

Sophia, on the other hand, being her first year experiencing the wonder of the PNP, I was curious to see if she liked it. She was glued to the screen the whole time.

I'm not sure if she really knew what was going on, though I kept pointing out Santa to her. Just enthralled she was and when it came to her special gift, TinkerBell Movie, she sat up, excited and pointed.

And just like Mason, she kept wanting to watch it over and over again. I don't know who came up with this, but it is brilliant. Seriously, brilliant. Friends and family, all fawn over these videos just in awe over the detail that goes into it and how real it feels. I truly think this is going to be our new yearly tradition for the kids. It's Santa in the new age.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the nostalgic letter to Santa and will continue to do this as well, but even Santa has to keep up with the technological boom. And what is more tech than Santa contacting you via the internet, or rather the Portable North Pole as they call it? I hope upon all hopes that this is what keeps my children believing. Even if they don't believe it really is Santa in the suit when we take pictures; maybe, just maybe, they will keep believing in the magic through the PNP.

And you know, they have an option for grown-ups, so I'm thinking next year Santa just might contact me.