Santa's Arrival! (November 20, 2010)

Santa’s Arrival 2010!

As we all know every year Christmas comes earlier and earlier.  This year I either just now noticed or it’s always been this way but the department stores like Kohl’s and Sears had there Christmas decorations up the week of Halloween!  I always, always remember Santa arriving to the malls on the day after Thanksgiving or “Black Friday” but this year (and maybe last year who knows, I don’t remember) Santa arrived to our local mall, Easton, the week BEFORE Thanksgiving and Sam, Mary and myself went to Easton to watch his arrival in a horse drawn sleigh. 

Prior to our departure from our home to Easton I took on a few “projects” in the house while the kids slept and before I knew it, it was 3pm and the shower beckoned.  Mary was waking up from her longest nap to date and I had to wake Sam up to get them both ready to go.  I had to stop and drop a package off at FedEx and I was going to treat Sam to a hot dog and french fries.  Trying to get two mobile kids ready by a specific time can be difficult so I had a time frame set in my mind to strive for, at that time was 4pm, we left at 4:30pm, not bad right?! Just before we left I asked Sam what presents he wanted to ask Santa for and he said, most enthusiastically, that he wanted a racecar!  He also told me that he wanted Mary to have a dolly princess.  When I told him to go and get his coat from his closet got overly excited to see his skeleton Halloween costume and begged to put it on, and I quote “I have to wear my skeleton costume so I can tell Santa, RAWRRRR!!!!”  

I dropped my package off then headed to Steak and Shake for a bite to eat and then head to the mall for the “perfect” parking spot as I knew it would be difficult to get out of there without a strategic exit plan.  We arrived at Easton about 4:50 and that must have been the exact time we needed to arrive as I found the ideal parking spot!  We ate our meals in the car and then, what I refer to as the “unloading process”, began.  Stroller, check; Mary in back of stroller, check; Sam and his fries in front of stroller, check; Mommy bag with phone, camera, wallet, and baby essentials, check.   

Once we were strolling away we turned the corner and there was the massive Easton Christmas tree just waiting to be lit, men dressed in jester costumes juggling and the sweet sounds of Christmas music. (I love Christmas music.)  As most of you mommies know pushing a double stroller is always a bit difficult so navigating in such a crowd as the one at Easton wasn’t easy.  We had to go in and get gloves for Sam because all he has are some hand-me-downs that were intended for Mary and those gloves are purple. I first went to Gap Kids to scope out their gloves and not only struck out, because I wasn’t paying $12.50 for something I knew he was going to lose, but because Gap is NOT stroller friendly and couldn’t not wait to get away from the impolite and oblivious public. 

Here is where I will go on my “I’m pushing a stroller people look out” rant.  How many of us mommies have experience rude, inconsiderate, selfish people when it comes to people of the shopping mall attendees?  I would answer that question that we all have and last night was no exception.  First of all when pushing a double tandem stroller with a 30lb child in the front is like trying to drive a bus, there is no turn radius!  Second of all since it is like driving a bus it’s not like I can weave in and out of shoppers like I’m on skate board or roller skates, so therefore MOVE!  Not only are the people inconsiderate in their unwillingness to move but the stores have managed to make themselves stroller unfriendly.  Trying to steer around the unstrategicly placed display racks and tables full of sweaters is almost impossible, and then factor in those obliviously selfish people standing near and next to those displays.  

So after a 15 minute ordeal of steering, standing in line and get back out of the store I finally got Sam a pair of gloves.  Not just any gloves but black ones with pretty pink bows and a jewel in the middle.  Surprise!, I couldn’t find a little boys glove anywhere that wasn’t $13.  I got the pink bows off and the gloves on his fingers and we continued on our way to the nights events. 

We finally steered our way to the area where Santa, the parade and the lighting of the Christmas tree were take place.  As we took our positions on the curb by Barnes and Noble the jester dressed jugglers started their entertaining routine which involved juggling on a balance ball, unicycle and bringing in a volunteers from the crowd; Sam loved it!  As you can imagine it was a very cold night, for the kids, so keeping them bundled is a chore at times especially Mary who won’t keep anything on her head.  I had to keep returning their hoods to their heads all night.  After Mary drank her bottle she began to fuss, she was tired, and the parade hadn’t even started yet.  In order to keep her happy I opted to hold her instead of strolling her for fear we’d loose our place on the curb for Sam to see everything. 

Remember when I mentioned the inconsiderate shopping mall walking crowd?  Well, apparently they are also the inconsiderate “I’m sitting right in front of your son” crowd too.  As soon as the parade started two people sat down right in front of Sam and he turned to me and said with the saddest little voice “Mommy, I can’t see”.  So I said as loud as I could trying not to sound rude, “Awe honey you can’t see?”  As soon as I said that the MOTHER that sat in front of my child said “Oh I can move”. Gee, thanks!  

The parade started about 6:05 and my camera of course wasn’t working right.  For some reason the flash is going off but the pictures are still dark, so I hardly got any of the parade and none of the tree lighting because the battery died, of course.  I wish I could have captured the look on my sons face when the oversized balloons of gingerbread cookies, a nutcracker, snowflakes and Rudolph all came around the corner.  He was so overjoyed that I got a little teary eyed just watching his pure child joy that we all had when we were kids.  My heart was so warmed by his excitement that it made a moment like that all worth being a mommy.   

After the parade and the arrival of Santa on his sleigh commenced the lighting of the grand Christmas tree ceremony began.  Santa and Mrs. Claus did the honors and not only did the tree light up but ALL of Easton came to life.  It was gorgeous! Next thing I knew fireworks were going off and Sam’s face lit up brighter then Easton village.  Mary couldn’t stop swiveling here head to make sure she got to soak in everything she was seeing.  This is Mary’s first Christmas and with her being an older infant I am sure she will enjoy everything she experiences.  I was so proud to be a mommy at that moment that the tears sprang bag to my eyes.   

After what seemed like the longest, yet joyful, 45 minutes ever, I finally put Mary down in her stroller seat and headed back to our van.  The “unloading process” began and once the kids were strapped in their seats, we were homeward bound to see daddy and tell him about all the fun stuff we saw.  Once home and Sam’s candy cane stained fingers had hugged daddy, bath time stared and Sam’s sugar high reached its highest level.  Mary was so tired by the time we got home that she was in bed by 7:45 and after Sam’s sugar crash he was in bed by 8:30; the perfect end to a perfect day.  And to think I wasn’t going to take the kids because of the cold night air, glad I listened to my heart and took them. 

In the past week there has been some very unhappy and gruesome news being reported from the community where my parents live and being with my family tonight made me love and appreciate them more then I probably ever had.  Make sure to always love and cherish your family, friends and children; especially during such a magical season as Christmas.

Thanks for reading

~Andrea