visiting santa

Hey guys…let’s go visit Santa!

But first can we take a brother picture?

Uh, maybe not. Biggest brother is angry…he always has to be in charge and this really wasn’t his idea. Littlest brother is mad…he wanted to be in the middle. Middle brother just likes to smile his cheesy smile. Sigh…we’ll try again.

We get to the mall. It’s a weekday afternoon (last week) around 4. No one should be there right? Uh, wrong. An hour line. My kids are dressed, they are ready to tell Santa their wish lists. I decide to power on and try to keep them occupied. For angry 9 year old that means allowing him to walk laps in the mall, much to the annoyance of his brothers who aren’t allowed to leave the line. It also means an eventual $10 bribe (all I had in my wallet) in order to get said 9 year old to behave. Of course, I had to do this in secret or else I would have had to give THREE $10 bribes. Sigh.

A brother picture after 20 minutes in line…not too shabby. Love the guns little brother.

Thank goodness for the iphone and YouTube. Classic Christmas Cartoons anyone? Why doesn’t the mall have wireless for free? I’m spending a gagillion dollars on a silly santa picture. They could at least let me mooch off their network for a bit.

A maybe spend a little time posing. Not sure why…but it kept him entertained for a few minutes as long as I took pictures of every pose.

I’m eavesdropping to make sure that all the things they told me they were telling him were really what he told them. LOL

After all that? Success. Well, kind of. Not sure where they were all looking…but I’ll take it. It’s the first year they all smiled, no one was crying and they all talked to Santa.

Will we be able to do it next year? I’m wondering how much longer biggest brother will go with it (and I can’t afford a $20 bribe!)

Hope you are taking time to enjoy the magic of the season this week.

Kristen