Now.....'Tis the Season... That's What I'm Talking About

So, I thought, I'll get the boys their haircuts and then we'll dash over to see Santa. The line will be short late on a Tuesday afternoon.

I tell Nora first, and she becomes immediately inconsolable because I'm making her go see Santa and won't let her play. How does she articulate this through her closed second story window to her friend waiting below? "GO HOME RIGHT NOW! I can't play with you! Mom won't let me! GOOOO HOOOMMME!!! Mom says I'm not allowed to play with you!!" Nice.

The haircuts went fine. Took awhile, but it was fine. Except afterwards, Alek kept muttering, "I look different." But, he was okay, no panic. Just a little quiet. Nora was impatient and read nonstop aloud from her Rudolph story book. She read aloud at the salon. In the car. Through the mall. And really, considering that it was now 5ish, Walt was hanging in there.

Hardly any line. Oh. It's 5:02! Santa's dinner break is from 5:00 - 6:00. Niiiiiiice.

Food Court, baby. No problem. Taco Bell, baby. No problem. And really, I was thinking this wasn't so bad. The kids were only fighting semi-constantly. We'd eaten, and when we got back to the Santa line, we were only about 8 families back. No problem. 5:34.

By 5:38 Walter had literally leaned his head on a man's leg so that the man gave him a cookie from the bag of cookies he'd just bought his grandson from The Great American Cookie Company. Yeah.... then Nora and Alek had to be given one. Still. No big deal. Nice man.

By 5:42 I'd had to break out the iTouch and let Walter play MacDonald's Farm on it. And still, as long as no other kid glanced for more than 30 seconds at it, he only shrieked at them occasionally.

By 5:50 Alek started to complain that he didn't want to wait.

By 5:55 Nora had made friends with a cute 3 year old girl.... an only child 3 year old girl with a perfect outfit, perfect hair, and perfect mother. But they were playing very nicely. All was going well. 5 minutes more.

At 5:58 Santa actually arrived on time! Yea Santa! Line is moving fast, but Walt has pretty much lost patience, is uncooperative, and is running around and away repeatedly. Nora won't stop picking up the little girl, but no harm really. And Alek has begun to sulk and fret. As Walter runs wild, the woman behind me, a delight, actually, says, "You are a saint." My response? "I am in public. Don't kid yourself."

The line is humming though. We're almost home free. And then, I turn to put my eye on Nora.... She has just dumped two handfuls of fake confetti/glitter snow all over the 3 year old's perfectly coiffed head. Ummmm.... Her perfect mother is perfectly horrified. This prompts me to giggle. And the delightful sainting woman to laugh out loud and hard. Yeah, perfect mother still not impressed. Our turn!!!!! It's our turn!!! Escape is near!!!!!

Alek kneels. Nora poses. Walt kicks and fights me as Santa braces for him. Dump the kid, jump out of the shot. And yeah, baby. It's Christmas!!! Merry Merry!