Santa Claus

This morning, I ventured out with Nyla and her stroller in tow. I was on a mission to get to the mall to see Santa and have Nyla take her picture with him. I didn't want to stand in those massive lines on the weekends, so we loaded up and headed to the mall right at opening. When we got there, I was pleased to see that only three people were in line ahead of us. Whew! Beat the crowd.

Standing in line, I had time to think about how miserably wrong this whole situation was going to go. I was going to take Nyla out of the stroller, take off her lamb hat, and she was going to see Santa and scream like an animal. She would be crying crocodile tears and kicking and screaming with her red face. The picture was going to be of Santa giving her a curious look as she is trying her damnedest to get off of him. All while this is going on, I'd be standing in front of her by the elf trying to get her to smile. It was going to be disastrous.

"Next." Here comes the screaming.

We walked up cautiously toward Santa. Nothing from Nyla yet. I got her out of the stroller. Nothing still. Santa said, "If you just back her up to me and set her down on my lap, she'll only see you and won't cry." Oh yeah right, Santa. But he is Santa, so I did as I was told...I'm on the nice list this year.

Lo and behold, no crying from Nyla. Not even a hint of crying. She just sat there with her little scowl...you guys have seen enough pictures of her to know what face I'm talking about. The elf snapped four pictures, I picked the one that was least scowl-y, and we were on our way! First visit to Santa was a resounding success! I love it!

My favorite part of the whole escapade, other than Nyla behaving like an angel (she's on the nice list too), was the kid behind us. While he was waiting, he was just looking at Nyla, picking his nose and eating his boogers. Lol hilarious! Like it happened all the time. Kids are so funny! Also, parents beware. Santa at the mall doesn't have all his teeth. But he is a very nice man.

Nylabelle, the holiday season has begun! Thank you for being mommy's sweet angel this morning! You're the best.

Merry Christmas everyone!