Santa Claus is coming to town...but he needs a coffee break

Clearly Elizabeth knows nothing about Santa Claus. The only character she vaguely seems to recognize is Elmo, but that's another story for another time. But, as it's Elizabeth's first Christmas and I tend to get hokey at times, I entered the holiday season bound and determined to get that first picture of her on Santa's lap!

I talked to a couple friends at work and they suggested the local Bass Pro Shop, where apparently the line is short and the photos are free. Bass Pro Shop is a half hour away from us, but last weekend we were up at our friends' Hanukkah party (I thought Elizabeth's first dreidel game followed by her first Santa visit would be pretty funny), which was in the neighborhood of the store--perfect! I dressed E. in one of her 3 Christmas dresses (thank you to the Grandmas!) and off we went.

Naturally, she fell asleep on the way to the store. Bass Pro Shop is part of a huge outlet mall, so I did shark circles through the parking lot for almost 20 minutes until I found a parking space. (At a mall on a Saturday afternoon in December...that was my first mistake.) I welcomed the nuisance, though, since it would give E. more time to nap. So I sat in the car and decided to wait out the nap...45 minutes and lots of NPR on the radio later, she finally stirred. I nursed her in the front seat, bundled her up, and walked us purposefully into the store. I was excited to see how this would turn out.

I walked towards the little Santa village in the store, only to find out that Santa was on break and would return at 5. It was 3:45. I was pretty bummed, more so over the huge amount of time I had just wasted. Oh well.

The following Friday, I was unexpectedly home from work in the afternoon because Elizabeth had a stomach bug, having had her first puking experience the night before, poor baby. She seemed to be feeling like her old self, though, with no fever, so on an impulse I decided to take us to the mall to attempt to see Santa. (A different mall in a completely different part of town.) I needed to go to Penneys anyway, and I figured we were just close enough to school dismissal time that it wouldn't be too busy yet.

Again, my daughter fell asleep in the car. This time I was prepared with a couple magazines, and she still slept about 45 minutes. I loaded her into the stroller and off we went. I bought a pretzel because I was starving and gave her a chunk to nibble on. Okay, ready!

There was a pleasantly short line in front of the Chronicles of Narnia-themed snowy village. Yay! An older gentleman (thankfully not dressed like an elf) was patrolling the line, telling us that Santa would be leaving at 5 for an hour-long break. It was 4:30. The man told us at the end of the line that we'd probably not get in, but might as well wait just in case. The earnest dad in front of me, surrounded by several gleeful kids, pleaded to the man "But we came all the way from Minnesota to see him." Okay, seriously?

I tried to remain patient, enjoying the sight of my daughter in her adorable plaid jumper (that was mine!) and red tights as she gazed wide-eyed at her surroundings. She played with her Elmo doll and I managed to feed her a jar of baby food as we waited. I chatted with the woman behind me who stood with her 7-year-old son.

5:00. The gentleman reappeared and roped off the line right in front of the family in front of me. A maintenance guy appeared and started to vacuum the Narnia village. I'm generally not an assertive person in the least, but darn it, I was here and my daughter was awake and happy and adorable! I asked the gentleman if we could get just a QUICK picture with Santa, seeing as Elizabeth was the only child in the entire line not old enough to want to talk to him and give him her Christmas list. He told me to ask the manager. I hauled Elizabeth across the village to plead my case with the manager, again posing my reasonable argument (much more reasonable than coming from Minnesota, which clearly doesn't have any Santas in their malls). "If I let you in, I'd have to let everyone in," he said apologetically. Okay. Fine.

The trip wasn't a total wash because I got to Penneys to order my family room blinds, but darn it, my daughter is going to see Santa and he's NOT going to take any more breaks!! A friend tipped me about a local hardware store. I think that's my next bet. Besides, the mall pictures cost $20!


Above: Third time is a charm! Elizabeth and Santa at Bass Pro Shop on December 18. A 2 minute wait and no tears! Perfect!!!