Santa Claus is Sad

Yesterday on the way home from my midwife appointment we stopped at the fancy upscale mall (the one with the huge snow globe that emits fake snow) so the boys could meet Santa Claus. The mall's elaborate Christmas decorations put the boys in a delightful mood. They were completely enthralled with the winter wonderland scene featuring enormous life-sized stuffed animals, including tigers, polar bears, and a giraffe that is probably 2 stories tall. Despite their good mood, I guess I was being overly optimistic when I dressed the boys in their cute new green Christmas sweaters and waited in line for a visit with jolly old Saint Nick.

As soon as Caleb caught a whiff of what was going on, he clammed up. "Do you want to sit with Santa Claus?" I asked him. "No, no, NO!" was his adamant reply as he cautiously backed away. Joshua was not as decidedly opposed to the notion, and actually crept as close as 5 feet from Mr. Claus before deciding that a polite wave and a cordial "hi" was as friendly as he would be. Of all the kids who were waiting in line with us (and the line was quite long), Caleb and Joshua were the only ones who outright refused to even sit with the man. Sure, not all of the other kids smiled, but they all sat. As we were leaving, I told the boys that they had made Santa Claus sad. Throughout the rest of the day, Joshua kept saying "Santa Claus is sad," and sticking out his bottom lip. Caleb couldn't have cared less that he had made Santa Claus sad.

While I was disappointed that we didn't get a cute picture of the boys with Santa, on the bright side, we saved $17, the price of the most inexpensive photo package. And more importantly, we probably don't have to worry about the boys ever being lured away by even the friendliest stranger!