No Picture Santa!

So, do you all remember when you could go visit Santa and maybe you could purchase a picture, but the main event was actually seeing and talking to Santa? Well, things have definitely changed.

I'll begin this story by rewinding about a month. An idea popped into Isaac's and Marina's sweet little greedy heads just before Thanksgiving. They wanted to make their "wish list." I just couldn't bear the thought of indulging them at this time. I know it's normal for kids to want things, especially this time of year. But, the thought of Isaac making a list 2 pages long of everything he wanted, and Marina following his example, was just too much for me. So, my response that day was, make a list of things you could buy others or make a list of all the things you are grateful for. Well that little conversation turned into several others...my children telling every adult that has asked them if they've written their letter to Santa, "No, my mom won't let us write a letter this year." Many of those times I thought about disputing this statement. (I by no means ever told them they couldn't write a letter at all, just simply that they couldn't make a long wish list, and they couldn't do it the day before Thanksgiving.) But then the idea of helping them to focus on giving more than receiving seemed better.

*Note: In previous years, my children have been taught to only ask Santa for 3 things anyway. This was to force, Isaac in particular, to really narrow down the choices. This way they would have to think about what was the most important thing they really wanted. (And help Santa be more successful)

This brings me to the present time (no pun intended). Here we are a few days before Christmas and my kids think that Santa doesn't know what they want. I've reminded them, that they have put it out into the universe many times, and that Santa has elves all around listening, reassuring them that they would get something they wanted. I guess that just wasn't good enough. So, Danny and I consented to take them to the mall to see Santa. We figured what the heck, it would be fun to see what Esaias would do with the white bearded man. (Another side note, we hardly ever go to the mall, let alone the Aurora Mall.)

Our kids walking into the mall were immediately enamored with the hustle and bustle of the shoppers and the season, the signs and decorations, exclaiming, "Wow, we haven't come here for a long time." " I remember this." "Can we just walk around and look?" "This is cool." We went the most direct route straight to Santa's line. I was pleased to see a real white bearded man. We joined the long line. I mentally braced myself for the long wait. Then was pleasantly surprised by how quickly the line was moving. About 15 minutes into our wait, Santa gets up and walks out the back door. "Oh, he can't be going for long... they would put up a sign or something...right?" After 2 trips to the bathroom, Esaias switching sets of hands multiple times and yawning, one of Santa's elves comes by to show us the picture package options. Danny looks at me with that look like really you're going to buy one of the overpriced packages. I respond with it's the baby's first Christmas. We continue to watch all the adorable children in line. Now they were adorable because they were all dressed in their best. Sweet little baby girls in fancy dresses, handsome little boys with their hair combed just right, antsy to get out of line and the parents trying to keep them looking that cute while they wait. Esaias already threw up on his very casual, not Christmasy outfit, and his red sleepy eyes, I began to feel a little out of place. After 30minutes of waiting Santa finally returns. Then we waited another 20-30 minutes. Esaias finally having enough, gave in and fell asleep on my shoulder. We had waited so long, we had to see it through.

When we finally reached Santa I informed the "elves" that we were just visiting. No pictures please! Our candidate for pictures had fallen asleep in the 1 1/2 hour of waiting. The elves didn't know what to do. They stood there looking at me funny. I couldn't believe it, all the people weren't anxiously waiting to see Santa, they were waiting to get their pictures taken. They were surprised to see children actually waiting that long just to visit. Isaac and Marina went and sat on Santa's lap, and it was actually the first time I saw Santa speak. Marina couldn't even remember what she wanted (she had to spend the hour and half thinking up something) and Isaac of course new exactly what to ask for. Santa did ask them to try and continue to stay on the "nice" list. And told them he was proud of them. Thanks for that Santa.

Lesson learned: Seeing Santa just isn't what it used to be. Commercialism is alive and well. And I think I'll just let my kids write their letter next year and avoid this!