We Braved the Mall

Somewhere around the time I had kids, I decided I was done with the mall at the holidays.  Just the parking alone was enough to send me over the edge, and once I wrangled a kid or three through the crowds, it just wasn't fun.  For the last three or four years, I have done nearly 100 percent of my holiday shopping online.  It creates a big stack of boxes to deal with and the returns are a bit of a pain, but other than that, I think it is great.

So when AJ started talking about going to see Santa back at the end of November, I cringed.  A session on Santa's lap is one of the few things I cannot get on Amazon.  The only place I know of where the guy reliably appears this time of year with time to listen to kids' wish lists is at the mall.  I didn't say anything about it again to him, but when we started putting holiday plans on the December calendar on the dry-erase board we keep in our kitchen, AJ kept bringing it up and was so excited about it that I decided I needed to get over myself and brave the mall.  And what better time than mid-afternoon on a Sunday three weeks before Christmas?  It happened to have dropped 30 degrees here this weekend making it a winter hat/coat/gloves required event, which only adds to the hassle.  We made it through all of that to the end of a line that stretched outside the Santaland only to have AJ proclaim he needed to use the bathroom.  I was by myself with the kids so we left our place in line and returned 15 minutes later to find the line longer than it had been before.  But we survived it all and even managed to get this picture to show for it.

AJ and David insisted on submitting a joint request to Santa claiming that they "will share everything!" and asked for a Transformer Bruticus, a cookie ("that we will split in half!") and an ipad that they don't have to share with mommy and daddy.  I keep telling them that Santa only brings toys, not computers, but this doesn't seem to be getting through.  Julia only wanted to ask Santa for one thing--trains!  I love that she has big brothers to inspire her play.

My favorite part of waiting in line (if there is such a thing) was when AJ asked me if Santa was God's other son.  I love how the mind works at this age and how it reminds me that things which appear obvious to us as adults have to be figured out by kids with their quirky and fascinating minds.