Veronica, official daughter-in-law of NewMexiKen, writes about one of the Christmas season’s most cherished traditions — taking the little one to see Santa.
We were at the mall early to do some Christmas shopping yesterday when we saw a mom and her two young kids standing outside the door to Santa’s workshop. We asked her what the deal was, and she pointed to the sign about the extra holiday hours. We were in luck. It was 9:45, and Santa was going to be there at 10am. So, we got in line.
Sofie was excited and remarkably well-behaved. At 10, the line had grown behind us, but there was still no sign of Santa. At about 10:15, the kids started whining. At about 10:30, the parents started to wonder if maybe Santa had had a few too many the night before. At about 10:45, someone in line reported seeing “an old guy with a beard” in the parking lot heading toward the Santa house, but he wasn’t in costume yet. Finally, at 11, the doors to Santa’s workshop opened. A pissed-off elf informed us that “corporate” didn’t tell them about the early holiday hours. By this point, the mom in front of us had left, dragging her disappointed and crying kids through the mall – they’d apparently “lost” Santa privileges because they were misbehaving.
Sofie was first in line. She goes in and won’t even look at Santa. Not for a second. Santa was more than happy, however, to have mom sit next to him. Um, gross. So the picture…(which cost us about $700 give or take a few bucks) pretty much sums up our perfect Santa experience:
(1) A long wait in line
(2) Screaming kids
(3) Problems at “corporate”
(4) Our own kid didn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap (or look at him or talk to him)
(5) A lecherous Santa
(6) Ridiculously overpriced photos of the experience
Bedford Falls or Pottersville?
It could have been worse; at least he wasn’t drunk. That was my last experience with a mall santa. (Notice the lack of capitalization… it was purposeful and I think if the real Santa caught wind of corporate misscommunications, he would be furious. I happen to know he’s not so happy with the “powers that be.”)
However, I have found one really great Santa’s helper in the form of a bell ringer over at the Smith’s on Golf Course and Paseo del Norte. Yesterday, I gave the boys some coin and let them drop it in the red bucket. Santa’s helper let them ring the bell for a long time. It worked for all of us. He got lots and lots of money and the kids had a great time.
That’s the Spirit!!
🙂
I feel for your Veroncia. When Katie was 1 1/2 she would have NOTHING to do with him when we finally got up there. After waiting that long in that line with THOSE people and their KIDS I was going to get a picture. So there it is for posterity. My darling daughter and her severly dishelveled mother. No makeup, jeans with a hole in the knee – possibly not even combed hair. It’s truely dreadful.
The experience must be universal. We waited in line for 75 minutes to see Santa and Mrs. Claus with both Cat and Tate excitedly chattering away about what they would tell Santa. When the big moment arrived, Tate walked right past Santa and off the stage and could not be coaxed back. Cat, after much pleading, agreed to sit on Mrs. Claus’ lap and her overpriced picture shows her giving Santa what could be construed as a dirty look. When I told her she may have hurt Santa’s feelings, she responded, “That’s okay Mommy, we have so many presents under the tree already, we don’t need Santa.” I wish she had clued me in to that a month ago.
Wow, I think all of you sacrificed yourselves so our Santa karma could be great this year. We showed up at the mall yesterday and the Santa line was empty – completely empty. I immediately assumed that Santa was on his usual 3:00 cocktail break. But no, he was there waiting for us. The kids went out and gathered on his lap. All three looked at the camera and smiled, even nine-month-old Reid. Then Aidan and Mack took turns giving Santa long lists of what they’d like for Christmas, and thanking him for all the nice things he does.
Before we left, Santa pulled Mack aside, looked in his eyes, and told Mack that he sees what a great big brother he is, and he’s proud of him, and he wants him to keep up the good work. Mack was agape.
Our picture was still ridiculously overpriced, but actually cute.
I have no idea how everything came together like that, but I had a perma-grin on my face for about an hour. This almost (almost) makes up for all the years of hour-long waits, petulant Santas and screaming toddlers.
This evening, we went to visit the same Santa as Jill’s family. We only waited about 20 minutes and had Happy Feet entertainment along the way. Kiley happily climbed on his lap, and Santa read through her list. She didn’t say much, but she looked at him all aglow. Alex was perfectly happy in my arms as I knelt in front of Santa. However, when I tried to put him down on Santa’s lap for the picture, he lost it. Picture a baby monkey holding on to Mommy with all four limbs. So, we have a wonderful, sweet picture of our big girl with Santa. Although a bit sad without Alex, I think it was all around a better event without the screaming. (We did cut what we spent with them in half since we only got half of our kids in the picture. But, one picture scans as well as more.)