Santa: Good With Kids, Not So Good With Technology

Christmas is fast approaching, and I’m completely unprepared. No gifts have been wrapped – in fact, no gifts have been purchased yet. The tree is up and decorated, but the stockings are still boxed. Some of our outdoor decorations are in place, but we still lack the extension cord to complete the process and light up the yard.

However, today I set out to complete one holiday tradition: see Santa. My friend L. and I packed up the kids and set out for the mall, unsure of what was in store. Last year’s Santa picture was a nightmare, with a screaming, crying child, and a near-tears mommy. I was hoping for something better this year.

The morning already had a rough start. In order to see Santa, Cordy needed a bath, which she didn’t appreciate. Once we got to the mall, she was hungry, so lunch was our first priority. The kids, who begged for food in the car, then picked at their lunch until we finally gave up and threw most of it away. Luckily, the dress remained clean, so in my book it was still a success so far.

As we walked towards Santa, I tried to prepare Cordy to see the big guy. Actually, I had been preparing her for days – letting her watch all of the holiday episodes of her favorite shows. So we’ve seen Dora’s “Present for Santa”(where I proved to her that presents go under the tree) and Diego Saves Santa. In the mall, I told her, “We’re going to see Santa, and I bet he’ll give you a treat!” Cordy seemed excited, repeating “Santa! Santa!” each time I said the jolly man’s name. L.’s son was extremely excited to see Santa, and planned to tell him that he expected a “big Buzz Lightyear” for Christmas.

Once we got there, we noticed the long line, so we thought it might be best to take the kids up as close as possible and let them warm up to seeing him in person. They watched in awe as a little girl sat on his lap, and seemed a little nervous about getting any closer. However, the line wasn’t moving. His “elves” said the camera was having problems, and they were working to fix it, so we decided to let the kids run off some energy in the play area while they fixed it.

Going to the play area, I was once again assaulted with salesperson stupidity. Just like the day after Thanksgiving, I walked past a kiosk and was practically chased down by the man working there. He looked at Cordy, and then said, “Could I have a moment of your time? Our product could do wonders for your daughter’s hair!” I glanced back at the kiosk, and wasn’t surprised to see it was a kiosk for a hair straightener styling tool. (Same product, but a different mall from the first time.) Furious, I shot the man a dirty look and said in my best back-the-hell-off voice, “She’s two. She does not need her hair straightened.”

I was redeemed once we got to the play area. Several other moms stopped me to comment on how pretty Cordy’s curls were, and thankfully no one asked if she had a perm. We spent over a half hour there, playing, chasing, sliding, and having a great time. But then L.’s son remembered Santa, so we got our shoes back on and went back to see Santa.

Once we got there, I was disappointed to see the entrance blocked off. I asked one of the elves what was wrong, and she told me that their computer system was down, so they couldn’t take any pictures right now. Apparently even Santa can’t make a digital camera and computer work together. She did offer to let us in to see Santa if we just wanted to visit, and while they normally don’t allow people to take pictures with their own cameras, she said that if we had a camera, we could use it. Of course, I had forgotten my camera, but at the last minute remembered that my cell phone had a camera in it.

As we walked closer to Santa, Cordy quickly fell into her normal “meeting strangers” position with her head buried into the back of my legs. Santa was nice, and quickly offered her a lollipop. Her curiosity, combined with my gentle nudging forward, led to her eventually accepting the lollipop from Santa. I grabbed my cell phone, while Santa quickly scooped her up onto his lap, and we managed to get a picture.

OK, sure, so it’s a pic of Cordy trying to squirm her way off of Santa’s lap, but it’s better than last year’s pic, even if it from a shabby 640×480 resolution cell phone camera.

And L’s son, who was so excited to see Santa? He also turned speechless and shy when confronted with the real deal. While he did sit for the picture, he was too nervous to tell Santa what he wanted, and barely squeaked out a “thank you” for the lollipop.

So while we didn’t get an official picture (and saving myself $12.99 really isn’t a bad thing), we still got to see Santa, and this was a better year than last year’s visit. Of course, had I known that after visiting the mall, she wouldn’t nap again today (second day in a row), I might have asked Santa to bring back the nap. Please.