Sunday, November 30, 2008

He Sees You When You're Sleeping

The last weekend of November and it appears the holiday season is upon us. Christmas lights are twinkling on rooftops all over the neighbourhood. Holiday music echoes throughout the over crowded malls. I'm not a big fan of Christmas music, malls, or crowds so guess how happy I am about that one. And of course the store Santas have emerged from their yearly eleven month hibernations. That's a fact; look it up. Anyways, all that means it's time again to try and get the kids to cooperate for a picture with the jolly fat man.

Past history made me believe this was a futile endeavor. Hell, you'd be hard pressed to get a smile out of me if you took my picture with some stranger. Let alone if I was supposed to sit on his lap. With that in mind we went to a Christmas party at a museum on Friday. It was the museum of science and technology which the kids like on a normal day. Add some holiday decorations and activities and you've got a party. They made reindeer out of clothespins and candy canes out of pipe cleaners and beads. By they I mean we wound up making them. If I had a nickel for every time I got together with some friends on a Friday night to do crafts. The reindeers turned out nicely but I just didn't have the patience for the candy cane. Mine looked partially eaten, not to mention no real colour pattern. Guess I'll have to work on it for our next craft party.

So in addition to the crafts and snacks (one of my favourite things about Christmas time is the food) they had a Santa for the kids to sit and take a picture with. From the standpoint of roominess for the lineup the train exhibit was a good choice. Not the best location to ease people's fears though. A big dark room full of great big trains; who wouldn't be totally at ease? Needless to say the girls didn't want to wait around for Santa. Worked for me, the line was crazy. Apparently not as bad as the one at the mall though.

They waited for 75 minutes for their chance to see Santa. Thank goodness I was working. I wouldn't wait in a line for 75 minutes to get a life saving organ transplant, let alone to get a picture taken. We all figured they'd freak out when it was their turn to go up and see him but they just had to prove us wrong. They smiled for a lovely picture and even told him what they want. The older one wants a Gotta Go Doll and her sister wants a car and a doll. Considering how much they exceeded our expectations I think it's a pretty safe bet they'll get what they want.

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