How can I think about Christmas already?

I better start thinking about Christmas! It will be here before I know it. November is just flying by and I do not want to be out in the middle of the traffic next month, at the last minute, making rash, illogical purchases.

This morning I went with my daughter, son in law and the baby to have her picture made with Santa at the mall. We went into Macy's just to buy a hair bow and I ended up buying two Christmas dresses for Miss L that I thought were just adorable. Her mother and I have very different taste when it comes to dressing the baby. I always want to go with the classic styles with the cutesy, girlie dresses with smocking, tiny pleats, etc. Daughter wants to go with clothes like trendy jeans or blue jean skirts and bedazzled shirts that read "Born to Shop." But, of the dozen Christmas dress choices we did find a few on which we could agree. If I had had the money I would have bought at least two more. They were just tooo cute.

This particular mall has a really great Santa who looks very authentic and a huge Polar Express set up. After the kids have their pictures made with Santa, you can move over to a porch set where the whole family can pose.

I brought my own camera with me so I positioned myself beyond the picture taking venue and put on the telephoto lens. I was in excellent view of everything going on and I had a lot of fun watching the little ones react. It was probably an hour wait and by the time my kiddos were at the front of the line Miss L was bored, cranky and done with the hair bow! There was one family ahead of them and you would not believe what happened! The camera broke and stopped printing out pictures!!! They waited and waited and waited while the little mall workers tried to troubleshoot the problem.

After a while Santa got up and started walking around talking to the kids in line. This was great for some and terrifying for others. He was very kindly and you could tell he was not trying to cause any drama. He just moved on down the line. Miss L was happy to see him and let him hold her hand and said "Hi, Tanta Claw." By now I had moved up to the perimeter fence and Santa suggested I go ahead and take pictures which I did of daughter, SIL and Miss L with Santa standing there. Great shots.

Then Santa told the mall workers, all gathered around the broken kiosk, he was going to sit down and let everyone take their own pictures. I was so thrilled that I had brought my camera and almost started to take orders from those in line! Tee Hee. But wouldn't you know, the minute Daughter placed Miss L in Santa's lap she began to squawk! She wanted no part of it and I got a very funny shot of her all straight-legged trying to get down.

A few minutes later the camera was fixed but by then there was no line left. Out of some sense of obligation we ended up buying the disk with the rights to the official picture. I just really think we should have gotten a discount for all the hassle but Daughter was too reserved to ask or allow me to do it.

Wished that reserved style applied to baby clothes! Just kidding!