The video below is from a bit ago–the morning of December 18th.

That morning, we hit the PV mall, hoping to get in an early morning visit with one Mr. Santa Clause.  Unfortunately, he was “feeding his reindeer” and wouldn’t be appearing for visits until 11 AM.  Literally, that’s what the sign said.

So, we divided and conquered, with Justin taking El to the horses and really making good use out of our groupon for the carousel ride, and Hawp and I securing our 2nd place spot in line.

Three horse rides, one pet store visit, 2 coffees, and endless bouncing little Harper in the ergo later and Santa had arrived.  We immediately were given our order form because Santa’s “people” are marketing geniuses and realize that us parents will pay $30 for a god awful picture since it’s sentimental.  And believe me, our pictures were awful.  We actually bought a package that allowed us 3 photos but only ended p getting 2 because both girls were FREAKING OUT.  No joke.

Here’s what happened:

While watching Santa and the elves set up shop, I realized we really had not prepped El at all for this moment.  We hadn’t even really talked much about Santa.  I mean, poor girl really had no idea what was about to happen.  Here we were, about to hand her over to some random dude and then expect her to smile and mug for the camera as we walked away.  Ummnn not so much.  Add to this that Harper was just beginning her stranger anxiety phase and you have a recipe for disaster.

So, we did a quick run down on Santa, en route, telling BE that he was pretty awesome, brings gifts, etc., and that she was about to sit on his lap and it would be fab.  So, El, you are going to go sit on Santa’s lap and smile and say cheese for a picture, okay?

Shockingly, she looked right at us both and said, “No.”

At this point, we had about 2 minutes before we were up.  We were desperate.  We told her if she sat on Santa’s lap and smiled and did not cry we would take her to see the puppies (again) and ride the carousel (again) and then we would get ice cream (new bribe) and buy her a present (i added that last one for extra bribery power).  We were pulling out all the stops.

She said, “No thanks.”

And then it was out turn.  We marched up and both Justin and I tried to hand over our girls to Santa.  Both girls started freaking out.  I felt absolutely awful for Santa.  So, I suggested that Justin and I stay in the pic and Santa told us to make sure and hold each girl so they were on the opposite side of him (smart man–obviously has alot of practice with those who suffer from Santaphobia).  Alas, the girls were already traumatized and the tears did not stop.  So, I called it off after our two shots and we thanked Santa profusely and left.

We then hit the carousel because we still had a few groupon rides to burn.

Lesson learned: Prep your kids for Santa before getting in line to see him.

Oh, and please take note: it seems both girls are suffering from post traumatic shock here.  Thanks alot, Santa!

 

 

 

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