Santa Chaos

When my daughter was six weeks old we bought a double stroller so that she and her 21 month old brother could be easily taken if my husband or I were by ourselves with both of them. When it arrived via UPS it had been over a month since I had left the house for anything more than newborn visits for our daughter. I decided that since we now had the SUV of strollers I would attempt to take the kids window shopping in the mall for a couple of hours. How hard could it be? I would pack some diapers and wipes, a cup for my son and a couple of bottles for my daughter. The trip would have actually gone quite well had I kept it simple. It was a month before Christmas however and Santa was in the mall taking pictures with kids. I could not resist the urge to take them up and pay for the elf to take a picture of both of them sitting on his lap.

The line was short when we got to the front but long by the time we were done. Anyone who has tried to take a baby out of a snowsuit standing up knows this is not an easy task. By the time I had it off she was starting to cry and my son was trying to unbuckle his seatbelt and saying "Up!" over and over. With my six week old in one arm I managed to get him out of the stroller with the other. He was excited to see Santa when he was in the stroller but less than thrilled when he actually got close to him. After some bribing with a sippy cup and Santa's sleigh bells I finally convinced him to sit on Santa's lap. I then put my baby in the arm on Santa's other side and the elf snapped a picture. My son was frowning and my daughter was crying in the picture, but I was not about to try and have her take another one. At this point I was regreting bringing the kids to Santa's lap anyway.

The next challenge was trying to get two kids into a double stroller on a small platform. At first I tried to put my son in while holding my daughter in one arm but this did not work and both the kids started to cry. Santa, wonderful and jolly man that he is, offered to hold the baby for a moment while I strapped in my son. I let him for just a moment and buckled my son in lightening speed. I then grabbed my baby girl and put her in her carrier that attatched to the stroller. People behind me in line were irritated at this point so I decided I would put her snowsuit back on in another location of the mall.

We left the mall shortly after that and all three of us went home and took a nap. Ironically enough, as difficult as my son was during his visit with Santa he loved to look at the photo of the two of them together. He was very proud when he showed that photo to his dad that evening and smiled from ear to ear.