I was smart this year. I had no desire to wait in long lines to see Santa Claus with my overly dramatic 5 year old or my squirmy, silly 19 month old. Instead, I left home at the end of the third quarter of the Iron Bowl and decided to see the big guy while everyone else was at home cheering (or scowling, depending on your team). I was nice this year. I let my hubby take BOTH tickets to the game, while I cheered from home and braved the mall with two crazy little children.
Ella was really excited to talk with Santa this year and had really been practicing what she was going to ask him for. She decided that she didn’t need (or have any room for) toys this year and wanted clothes, shoes and books instead. She knew she wanted to ask him for the entire Junie B. Jones collection and couldn’t wait to see him! Since Sophie had no concept of who Santa even was, we’ve been talking him up for months. She’s seen pictures and cartoons and Christmas ornaments. She can pick him out of a line-up and tell you that he says, “Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas!” Even still, there was no way to prepare her for seeing him in person.
We arrived to his mall visit to find zero people in line. Don’t get me wrong, I was thrilled to have avoided the mass confusion from last year, but this gave me no time to mentally prepare myself or the girls for what was about to happen. Ella hopped up in his lap immediately and Sophie waved and smiled. Good, great, no tears. She shook his hand and said “Ho Ho Ho” and even blew him a kiss. Then, I sat her in his lap and for a lack of a better expression, all hell broke loose. I was secretly thrilled inside because I LOVE screaming Santa pictures. Is it wrong that I’m kind of sad they didn’t both cry!? I know, I’m a horrible person.
In true Sophie fashion, as soon as I picked her up, she waved at him and smiled again. And just in case you’d like to see it all for yourself!
