So yesterday we left our house at 11:30 in the morning on our way to take the kids to get pictures with Santa. But of course everyone else in the universe had the same idea and we get to our local mall and they tell us it won’t be until 4 at least until we can get in (because Santa takes lunch between 1 and 2 dontcha know).

So knowing there is NO way my 16 month old is going to stand in line for five hours (as if I would either) we head to another place, one near our old house. In we load into the mini van, mom, dad, three kids and grandparents. Each time we got in the car it was a seatbelt thing that lasted ten minutes (don’t ask). The boys were annoying and it was raining really hard so traffic was just lovely.

We get there at 12:30 and there’s a long line (although not nearly as long as the other line) and that Santa goes to lunch from 2 – 3 and they’ve cut off the line. Sigh. But we’re there and the kids are reasonably nicely dressed and we grab lunch and my husband heads back to stand in line where we will meet him at 3.

I won’t even go into how awful the next hour and a half was or how slow the time seemed to pass with a screaming 16 month old or how she leapt on a little boy at the bookstore and stole his santa hat and ran with it (that kid is going to need therapy I suspect).

We did get the picture in the end. She cried but my boys looked happy. I needed a drink but didn’t have one, sigh. I loved those moments when my husband and I just shared a look and no words were necessary. My parents seemed fairly immune to my children’s more annoying behavior. I found a Robert Sabuda pop up dinosaur book that I’ve been petting since I took it out of the wrapping last night. I will have to wax squee about Sabuda’s books soon.

Next year I’m doing those pictures on the weekend after Thanksgiving. Or I’m donating my children to the Toys for Tots campaign.

But I did get some writing done, 5 thousand words worth, last night so that was a good thing.