Our youngest daughter is to put it mildly....she is something else in every which way. She makes us laugh and drives us insane all at the same time ~ it is a God given talent, I believe.
This Christmas season we will have had one whole day that we spent the whole time together as a family. Hot Rocks job has afforded us that much. We are thankful for the job ~ don't get me wrong ~ we are truly thankful. On the day that we got to spend together, it was a previous post, there was a Santa at the outdoor mall that we were at.
Mem really wanted to have her picture taken with him so she stood in line for about a half an hour....she never complained about waiting and never left the line.....when her turn was next Hot Rocks reminded us that we needed to leave or we would miss our play in SF. So Mem left, not terribly happy, but not screaming and yelling about it either - she was just moopy (and rightfully so).
Now let me give you a little history about our family ~ our family consisting of Hot Rocks, myself, Sis, Pook and Mem....we are not big Santa people. We have nothing against him, but we have always celebrated Christmas as remembrance of Christ's birth. We never really got "into" Santa or I should say, we didn't encourage him in our family but we never thought of him as evil or anyone that believed in him as evil either.
So this is what makes it funny for all of us here in the house - Mem LOVES Santa and it wasn't because of anything that we had done or not done. She knows why we celebrate Christmas in our family, but she really wanted a picture of her and Santa.
Since our day out in Corte Madera didn't quite pan out to her expectations, Hot Rocks found out that the Bass Pro Shop had a Santa that you could take pictures with. That leads us to today ~ the day that we surprised our kids to a trip to the Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. It wasn't for the older ones, honestly, they could care less, but it was for Mem or as Hot Rocks calls her "Little One".
We arrived at BPS and there wasn't a soul in line for Santa! Well, that was because he was about to take a 15 minute break....so Mem and I stood there waiting for Santa and all his helpers to get back from their break. Mem was all aglow with excitement.
She stood there waiting ever so patiently. At one point, she grabbed both of my arms and shook them while saying "I KNEW THERE WAS A SANTA IN TOWN!"....the smile on her face. It was all I could do to not start cracking up with laughter. I thought to myself "What happened????". Next, she wanted to know if Santa was really off feeding the reindeer like he had told her that he was going to do. Without really thinking about it, I said "Nay, he is probably just out saying 'Hi' to all the other kids in the store". As my sister told me, that was a rain on your parade kinda statement. Mem didn't seem to mind though, she was going to finally get a picture with Santa.
Well, the moment arrived and she was just plain giddy about sitting on Santa's lap. Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas and I saw her lean over and whisper something in his ear - now mind you, this child does not like to answer questions from anyone outside of this family or inside for that matter! She came over to me with a big smile and said "Santa asked me what I wanted for Christmas and I said a POODLE!" What the heck???? Do we look like a poodle family to you? I had to laugh. That girl was as happy as a clam the rest of the day because she knew there was a Santa in town (somewhere).
(It's a picture of a picture)
What we won't do for our kids! Even if the "in town" is an hour away......
I think this is the best Christmas story EVER!!
Posted by: Karrie Baker | December 23, 2009 at 03:47 AM
If you buy your daughter a poodle, I am not sure we can still be friends! :) Wonderful story Trina. You and Rob are great parents!
Posted by: Anne | December 23, 2009 at 05:38 AM
Yay Mem!! Such a cute picture too!!
Posted by: Karla | December 23, 2009 at 05:24 PM
How funny! Shali asked Santa for a puppy too for Christmas. :)
Your love for your kids shines through in all the things you share and do with them. What a blessing! :)
Posted by: Joan | December 29, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Too funny! Tell her Aunt Karrie will bring home a poodle for her lol.
Posted by: Dana | December 31, 2009 at 02:57 PM