Another Visit To Santa

We were shopping at our local Wal-Mart(*) store today and, unbeknownst to us, they were having a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus out in the garden area. Once someone told the prince about it he only had one thing on his mind - go see Santa and Mrs. Claus. So off we went.

He kept asking about Mrs. Clause; could he talk with her? What was she like? Could he sit on her lap? I answered with the typical parental answer of "I don't know, honey. We'll have to wait and see."

There was no line, just a group of kids ahead of us already talking with the man in the red suit. Mrs. Claus was nowhere in sight which distressed my little guy a great deal. I said "Well honey, you ask Santa where she is when you talk with him."

Finally the group of children were finished and the prince eagerly ran forward. An elf positioned herself to take a picture and I very slyly asked how much a photo would cost. FREE! Alrighty then - fire away!

I picked the princess up from the cart and plunked her in Santa's lap to which a great look of alarm crossed her face (she doesn't do well with strangers in the first place and my just plopping her down unsettled her. Poor thing.). She screwed up her face to start crying but never fully did. She kept turning around to look at this man to whom her brother chattered away with and then returned her gaze to me and would screw up her face again. I happen to think it's the cutest little pouty face in the world and I didn't mind one bit about having a photo with Santa that was all smiles - a pouty look would be fine. I would expect no less. (The prince never cried when he saw Santa when he was younger - but then, he adores everyone and isn't the least bit reserved like his sister.)

The prince did ask Santa about Mrs. Claus and apparently she had been with him for several hours and she needed to go potty. Ah yes - something a newly potty trained three year old would understand! He said if we stopped by in a while she would be back.

So off we went to get the things we needed.

After we had everything, we headed back to the garden area. I spotted Mrs. Claus in her Christmas tree dress and pointed her out to the prince. He tried to say hello but we were too far away so I moved closer. Suddenly a look crossed the prince's face and he whispered "Mommy, let's get out of here." So we did. As we were going down the aisle I asked why he didn't want to talk with her and he said, eyes full of innocence "She doesn't look like she is supposed to. She looks different on Barney and in my book."

Ah ha! She wasn't wearing a red furry dress that matched Santa. Smart kid!

I said "Well you know, it's so warm in the store and she is so busy running around that she probably changed into something cooler. I bet she has her red furry dress in the sleigh."

Score one for mom. He seemed happy with that answer.

Boy am I dreading the day realizes Santa is a myth.



* I apologize if our shopping at Wal-Mart offends you. To be honest, we aren't thrilled about it either considering their political and social views. But - considering we are a family of 4 with 2 large dogs, 5 cats, a person in law school and one income - we do what we have to do to save money and survive.