Santa

We went and saw Santa Claus today! Ella got her picture taken with the Jolly Old Elf himself.  I had a day off from work and figured that it would be better to visit the Big Man on a random weekday rather than try to fight the weekend crowds (I was right).  Considering our realistic expectations, Ella did very well.  She was concerned about all the craziness, but there were no tears.  Seeing as how she is a very serious little baby around new people, I think we did just fine.  Sure, she's making her "I'm not sure about all this" face in the picture, but let's be honest -- there are millions of worse baby-with-Santa pictures out there.  I can accept her funny face since we weren't screaming bloody murder. (John says I can go back and try again, but I really don't want to set precedent to be THAT crazy mom that goes multiple times to get the perfect picture.)

Speaking of realistic expectations, I've got real-world examples of good and bad.  The lady a few people in front of us held the line up for at least twenty minutes because she wanted her young (under three years old) son to have a glamour shot with Santa.  She did all she could to get the PERFECT picture: trying to make him laugh, checking the photo, making funny faces, checking the photo, changing his shoes, checking the photo, smooshing his cheeks, checking the photo.  You get what we were trying to tell her telepathically?  There is no such thing as a perfect smiling baby with Santa! Give up! Move along! Try again tomorrow!  Sheesh.... The flip side was the couple directly in front of us.  They had a daughter a little bit older, maybe around 4-5yrs.  They waited very patiently in line behind cuckoo-pants lady before handing their girl over to Santa. They stepped back. And when they saw that baby girl was starting to tear up, they swooped in and said, "Nope, not happening, we'll try again another day."  See? Responsible parents exist out there!! I love it!  I hope they were able to come back and get good Santa-karma by getting a good picture.