The high cost of making memories..

This is Liam's second Christmas. I had it in my head that I'd like to try and get a picture of him with Santa every year until he refuses out of fear or pre-teen embarrassment. So it was with this goal in mind that we headed to the mall yesterday evening to make a memory.

Now I know what brand of crazy I am to be braving the mall only 5 days before Christmas. All the same I rationalized, we've got no where to be tonight, so we'll just take our time, get a bite to eat and roll with the punches. Little did I know how very foreshadowing that thought was.

So Chris, Liam and I get to the mall about 4:30. We park three quarters of a mile away in the only open spot in the whole lot and proceed to trek in. We make our way to the "North pole" and find that the line isn't long at all. I'm thinking: this is a Christmas miracle! There are, maybe, 5 groups ahead of us in line and I've estimated a 20 minute wait in line. With both Chris and I here, that is do-able. One of us waits in line while other chases after Liam as he runs through the mall dodging and weaving through the masses. Its fun. really.

So after we snake through the empty roped off maze we take our place in line. Someone raising their voice immediately grabs our attention. Its the woman second in line, she is angry. The elf in charge of ushering children in to see Santa has just spoken to the group of people waiting at the head of the line. I couldn't hear what she said but whatever it was, it made the woman in line IRATE. She begins yelling at the elf in a thick accent I cant quite place "I have two children who have been waiting already for 20 minutes!" the elf nods her head knowingly and just points to the cardboard sign she is holding. I try to get a glimpse of it but there are too many people ahead of me blocking my view. As the woman's protests get louder families start ducking out of line. I'm totally oblivious and think, keep on yelling lady, you're scaring everyone ahead of us away! I've moved up considerably in line and can now see Santa sitting in his big throne of a chair surrounded by beautiful poinsettias both large and small. In my head I think: those are poisonous, but not enough to kill you. To the left of the throne is a tall green Christmas tree with twinkling lights and a shiny gold star. Scattered around the foot of the tree are decorative boxes wrapped in glittery paper and big colorful bows. Its really quite pretty and not make-shift at all. Santa's got a little boy on his lap and is trying desperately to ignore the commotion that's happening just a few short feet away from him. But he cant focus on the kid, not when there's a crazy lady flapping her arms and pointing in the usher elf's face. Santa's eyes keep wandering in our direction. He cant help it. As the camera elf attempts to get keepsake picture of this kid with Santa a security guard approaches. He's older than your typical mall guard, I always think of kids in their early twenties but this one is maybe 50. The uniform is ridiculous though. He's got a badge pinned to his shirt, a utility belt with only a flashlight, walkie-talkie and a log book. And the Pièce de résistance: a stetson hat. I'm ALWAYS reminded of a Canadian Mountie. Sans horse and dignity. It just looks silly in a mall. He asks what the problem is and before usher elf can open her mouth the lady begins her rant again. "WE HAVE BEEN WAITING IN LINE FOR MORE THAN 20 MINUTES AND JUST NOW SHE INFORMS US THAT SANTA IS GOING ON BREAK, ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" The stupid security guard totally misses her point and replies: "20 minutes is not a long time to wait to see Santa." This only pisses the lady off more. "20 MINUTES IS A LONG TIME TO WAIT FOR TWO YOUNG CHILDREN, BUT WHAT IS INFURIATING IS THAT THEY ALLOWED US TO WAIT IN LINE ALL THIS TIME WITHOUT INFORMING US THAT THEY WERE NOT TAKING ANY MORE VISITORS UNTIL 6 PM.

Wait, what?

I look at the clock, its just about 5. That means if we want to keep our place at the front of the line we'd have to stand here for an hour and wait. No friggen way.

Suddenly, with all the information put into perspective I get it. I mean, don't get me wrong, I certainly wouldn't have made a scene, but if I had been waiting for 20 minutes before they told me I'd have to wait another hour, I too would have been frustrated. Chris and I left the scene at the north pole before seeing how it wrapped up but I'd bet a fair amount that that women got her kids in to see Santa before he went and got himself a number 3 combo at china express. But at what cost? When she looks at her keepsake photo from Christmas 2010 what will she remember?

We wont have a 2010 picture of Liam with Santa but when I think back, my memory will be that instead of waiting in line to see Santa we ran through the mall and played in the play place.

Well, that and the grown woman who threw a temper tantrum in line waiting to see Santa.

Favorite things

Because I've always wanted to, this year I decided all of the gifts I give will be wrapped in brown paper and tied up with strings, among other decorative things!



And they turned out so pretty and festive I couldn't resist sharing my ideas here...


Felt ribbon with some small sleigh bells I picked up at a craft store.



I saved blown Christmas lights in my junk drawer for years, thinking they would be pretty to decorate with, but never really knew what to do with them until this year. Love this!



Again with the felt ribbon, and some festive evergreen, berries and a pine cone from our yard. I secured everything together using a garbage bag tie then covered it with another snip of red ribbon to hide the tie.


Another pretty jingle bell with curling ribbon.


And a last minute addition! I wonder what it could be...


...just a little peek.




Ok, so in my defense, It came yesterday by mail. I was home. It says what it is right on the outside of the box! (smooth, amazon.) So when Chris gets home he pretends he doesn't know what it could possibly be and I'm all Mhmm, right. So about an hour later he just hands me the package.

YOU CANT DO THIS. EVER. not to me anyway. I'm a spoiled little brat who loves presents and can hardly stand waiting to open them.

Before it even registers, I'm opening it. All the while Chris is giving me this look that's a cross between disgust and utter disbelief. Although I know he's just playing. He's no different than I am. Except that I can hold out on the giving, he cannot.
So I mess around with it a while, download a book or two (so I'll have something on it when I open it FOR REAL at mom and dads) and tada, now its wrapped and pretty.

Do I regret spoiling both the pleasure of plucking it out from under the tree Christmas morning and the surprise of opening it to find the only (material) thing I wished for?


Nope, not one bit. :)