My toddler twins were afraid of Santa. Then a mall Santa put them at ease.

• While visiting family in Argentina ,we went to see Santa at the mall. 
• It was the first time that my twin daughters, who were born in 2020, saw Santa. 
• Neither of them wanted to sit on his lap, and he didn't push them to. 

My twins were born in March 2020, which means they missed out on a lot of toddler activities because of the pandemic. One of those was seeing Santa in person, which didn't happen until they were almost 3 years old.

While we were visiting my family in Argentina in 2022, we spotted a Santa at the mall. My older son, who was 4 at the time, was excited because he wanted to share his long list of requests for Christmas. The twins, on the other hand, were a bit timid. I get it; a stranger with a big beard, big belly, and bright red suit can be intimidating.

When our turn was up to come into Santa's wintery bubble and sit on his lap, the twins started to hide between my legs slowly. What Santa did surprised me and put them at ease.

I could tell he was a very professional Santa

In full character, the Santa stood up from his seat and instructed me to sit on it. He kept reassuring the girls they could be near me at all times. Once I was seated, he told me to pick them up and put them on my lap and that he was going to stand behind us so they had nothing to worry about. My son stood to my side and my husband on the opposite side of Santa.

The photo is adorable; no one is crying, and I got the memory I wanted.

But more importantly, the twins were so reassured by the experience that they left beaming, saying, "We met Santa!" As a parent, I appreciated Santa's effort to respect their consent and personal space.

A year later, they are not afraid of Santa at all

The experience was so positive that, only a year later, they were excited to see Santa out and about. So far, we've seen him twice: once at LL Bean, where everyone ran to Santa to tell them what they wanted, and another time on the Polar Express, a train experience based on Chris Van Allsburg's book, where everyone high-fived a different Santa.

We are flying to Argentina soon, and I'm looking forward to taking my kids to the same mall in hopes that we can see the same Santa and I can personally thank him for never pushing my daughters to sit on his lap. Maybe this year they will.