Ho Ho Hosed

I am always torn between the need to be original and the joy that I find in being part of the parenting culture.  There is something nice about knowing we are all basically the same.  We want to give our kids experiences and document them over-zealously.  Normal parenting things are still a thrill.  I want to buy every "World's Best Dad" item I see.  (Daron does not feel the same, so I refrain.)  It is the delight of my life to see my baby grow and experience the world.  Sometimes I get a little sad that I can't find anything unique to do for him. I think it is more apparent that "there is nothing new under the sun" when a very traditional holiday comes around.  Is that good or bad?  Hand print ornaments, check!  Picture with a bow on his head, check!  Cookie making, check!  Seeing Santa... holy cow, everywhere charges an arm and a leg.  How did I not know this?  

I kept thinking there would be an opportunity to see Santa where he will be perfectly round with a real beard in a magical chair and it would be free to snap away as many pictures as we liked.  The days went on and that Santa never surfaced.  Could I miss out on the most Christmasy thing a parent can do for their child? Two days out, I started to get nervous.  Should I have paid 20 bucks to stand in line for an hour and get one print of my son with a stranger that was a little on the scrawny side?  Once Christmas is over, I'm out of luck...in grade school they will all be comparing their one year old Santa shots (because I am sure children do these things) and Silas will be out of the loop.  Deprived. A Christmas Scrooge.  

I am not going to lie, I visited three locations in one day trying to get a picture. (With an 83 year old granny in tow.) I became more desperate with each subsequent attempt.  The first stop at the mall took up most of our walking stamina, but it was early in the day and I couldn't commit to the too-long-of-a-line and still wasn't buying that a picture should be so pricey. 

The second was the zoo, which had been ruled out originally due to the lack of animals at night and the lack of interest in light displays from one particular one-year-old. But if I am paying $20 for one print, I might as well pay $10 and get into the zoo lights.  My plan was brilliant.  I would get in on regular admission right before they kicked on the lights with my visitor pass for free!  Then I would make a bee-line for Santa and be first in line to take my own picture (allowed!) and get back to the car before my grandmother freezes in the cold where she insists on waiting.  No luck there, closed for rain. 

The last stop was a chintzy strip mall Santa in a terrible warehouse room they barely attempted to decorate.  I still couldn't pay for a shot, but at least my son would get to see Santa.  "What, this scratchy looking man in a ridiculous outfit? Let me ball my eyes out," he said.  We left.  Daron was relieved because I had commissioned him to covertly take pictures and he was visibly sweating before we even entered the "workshop".  

So I will have no pictures with St. Nick.  I've decided I can live with it.  If anyone ever thinks of something unique to do for the holidays, please go ahead and put it on Pinterest so that I (and the rest of the world) can jump on board in being original. Now stay tuned for no less than three classic-mom-recap-of-Christmas posts.  

 Silas with a less intimidating reindeer and Daron's sneaky camera work.