Mall Santa. 2011.

I'm borrowing my grandma's pictures for this post since I didn't have any hands free to bring my own camera:

So!  Time for our annual trip to see the Mall Santa (here's 2009 and 2010).  This year my grandma made them adorable matching red corduroy outfits to wear.  So when I was telling my daughter what the plan was for the day I said something along the lines of  "you'll put on your red dress from Nonni and we'll go to the mall to see her" Specifically not mentioning S-A-N-T-A.  Considering her current line on him is "I DON'T WANT HIM IN MY HOUSE" it seemed prudent not to tell her she was going to have to ... gasp.. sit on his lap.  Also when you break it down the santa myth is pretty damn terrifying.  I haven't been pushing the issue.

(see also:  he sees you when you're sleeping = NIGHTMARES)

Anyways!

All morning she was a holy terror.  Fits and fights and all of the ugly that a 2.5 year old is capable of.  She doesn't usually act that way.  I guessed that she got wind of the whole Santa meet and greet and was having a complete freakout via acting out.  So I sat her down for a little chat:

Me:  What's up sweetie?  Why are you acting like this?

Her:  lip quivering

Me:  It's ok honey you can tell mommy anything and we'll try to fix it.
Her:  clearly trying not to cry but eyes filling up
Me:   Sweetie it's alright.  Whatever it is we can handle it. 

Her:  bursts into tears

I DON'T WANT TO MATCH MY BROTHER!!

Oh. Ok then.  Matching outfits are HIGHLY UPSETTING and filled with much sadness, woe, and bad behavior. Clearly she must be a special little sparkly and fashion forward snowflake at all times.  And here I was trying to force her to wear the same thing as someone else.  Poor kid.

I let her pick out a dress to wear after that.  No point torturing a kid with corduroy.

On to the mall!

She loved the train even if she was a bit unsure at first:

And loved riding the escalator over and over again with Pappa Nonni:

But when we got to Santa?  "I DON'T' WANT TO SIT NEXT TO HIM. I DON'T WANT TOO. NO. PLEASE NO."  My mom tried to talk her down and reason with her but I saw the look of terror in her eye, knew that there was no way it was going to happen without brute force, and just went for it:

That'll work.

I think she acutally had a really good time, though.  Despite the whole S-A-N-T-A part.  And the trip was beyond worth it for this:

Before his sister got involved he was actually pretty into it.

because of this:

My first Christmas, My son's first Christmas.  You're not seeing double.

Perhaps next year she won't be as terrified... although flipping back through previous years she's never been down with this Santa thing.  Or the matching outfits now that I think about it..