As soon as Baby bear was born, we couldn’t wait for his first Christmas. To start new traditions with him and watch his excitement for Christmas grow as he did. One of these traditions was visiting Father Christmas in a grotto each year, I know we are wild but hang in there with me!…

This is Baby bears 3rd Christmas, and even though we haven’t been to many grottos my favorite has to be the Thurrock Garden Centres one. This year was a little different in the sense there weren’t any Reindeers this year and it was a little more expensive (£8 so didn’t break the bank and the gift was a lot better, in my opinion).

Gift from Father Christmas.

Gift from Father Christmas.

As soon as you walk in the entrance you find Santa’s grotto footprints on the floor that lead you to the grotto. Baby bear loved finding them to follow. He was so excited to see Santa there was no stopping to look at anything on the way.

santa's grotto footprints

Santa’s grotto footprints.

You don’t have to book here so we did have to wait 2 hours before being able to actually see Father Christmas but Daddy bear walked around the garden centre with Baby bear while I waited in line to help keep him entertained. I thought it was a great idea that they had set up all different displays around the centre to look at which helped give Baby bear something to look at.

santa's 4x4 display.

Santa’s 4×4 display.

Penguin Display

Penguin Display.

Once we got into the actual grotto there was a lot of animals there for Baby bear to see. As you may know, he loves animals so he was completely in his element. There were Rabbits, Guinea Pigs,  Turkeys, Chickens, Goats, Ponys, and Donkeys. These helped distract him while we then waited some more to see Santa. He did so well considering we were waiting for 2 hours, and I’m not complaining but 2 hours in the cold with a 2-year-old…that’s all in saying.

Turkey

Turkey.

chickens

Chickens.

Donkey

Donkey.

ponys

Ponys.

baby bear loved the donkeys

Baby bear loved the Donkey.

The whole time we were waiting Baby bear kept telling us what he wanted to ask Father Christmas for but as soon as we got in there he wouldn’t say a thing and went completely shy (if you know Baby bear he isn’t shy, far from it). So mumma did all the talking. However, the Santa there was amazing with him and after some pictures, he got his present and we left. All in all, it was so worth it to see his little face and how excited he was.

baby bear and father christmas

Baby bear and Father Christmas.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone x