Santa

Remind me not to wait until the last minute to go see Santa next year. First, as anyone who knows me knows, I hate crowds. I do not go to the mall...unless absolutely forced. For the kiddo, however, I will do anything, even brave the crowds at the mall.

I assumed that crowds would be at a minimum toward the end of the day. So last week, we tried heading to the mall at about 7pm (Santa is there until 8). The line wrapped twice around Santa's house. It seemed to be moving fairly fast so we stood in line. After about a 1/2 hour and moving very little AND little one getting very impatient, we headed home without accomplishing our task of seeing Santa. Today, we decided to try the opposite end of the day. We showed up about 10 minutes before Santa arrived. Of course, everyone else had the same idea and the line was wrapped around 3 times! We stood in line for about an hour and a half. Little one was bored, tired, hungry and whiney by the time we got to the main event. Never fear though. These guys are professionals. Santa took charge and started throwing a stuffed animal back and forth with the camera guy. This got Little Miss's attention and actually a small smile. Voila!

The weather has been bouncing between hot and humid (70s) and cold and damp (40s). It seems to have settled in on the cold end, unfortunately. (I am not supposed to complain as my sister said the high was going to be -7 where she lives. Brrrr.) To keep warm thoughts alive, I finally finished one of my summer pages of little one enjoying the slide at the pool.

We are staying home for the holidays. Only our second time to stay at our house for the holidays in the 13 years we have been married. It will be kind of nice not to have to pack up and face the holiday travelers. But, we will be missing our families. I have a quick trip to the UK the week of the 5th. Then we will head to hubby's family city for the wedding of one of his nieces. Hopefully, the weather up north will be a bit more moderate than it is now.

Happy holidays to one and all!