Yo-Ho-Ho, Merrrry Christmas!

No, it wasn't a pirate Santa. Arjen just thinks Santa says "yo-ho-ho!"  We checked off the box for our holiday parental duty tonight, and took the kids to meet mall Santa.  I gotta say, dinner time the Friday before Christmas turned out to be a reasonable time to go.  Line was short, got in, got out, and got our obligatory crying child photo with Santa…well, one crying child.  And it wasn't even because I tried to recover my iPhone back from him before he sat on Santa's lap (look close and you'll see Gus gripping it tight!).  He pretty much was crying because he had no clue what hit him, figuratively speaking.  Arjen was the one crying in line because the little turkey hit himself on the head by pulling the line separator thing-y down on himself.  But, by the end, Gus had chilled out a little, and was able to say "Hi Santa" before getting off Santa's lap.  And fortunately for Santa, the little coloring book token gift they were handing out had a snowman on the cover, so he got excited about that.  Arjen, on the other hand, had no fear telling Santa that he wants a little ladder, a boat, a big ding ding, and a jackhammer, for Christmas.  Don't ask.  I have no clue where half of those requests came from.  Overall, meeting mall Santa was a much more pleasant experience than I expected, and apparently, Santa asked Arjen for something in return…as we were leaving, I was told we had to make cookies!  Looks like I'll be baking this weekend...