Today we made the annual trek down to the Good Mall to see the Good Santa. This is the Santa that does not smell like smoke OR alcohol. The kids love it, it is a lot of fun. I know some of you reading this have experienced the Good Santa so you know all too well exactly why it pays to travel so far and so wide for The Experience. For the rest of you, let me share:

First you must know that in order to see The Good Santa, you must line up quite early in order to get an "appointment time". It is nearly impossible to get an appointment with Santa on the weekends. So this morning, bright and early, Tony drove down by himself to stand in line for our appointment. 11:17am - the early bird gets the worm!

I got "the call" to start heading down the half hour drive to The Good Mall at about 10:00 am. But, haha, that makes it sound real smooth and easy. What it really meant was that I had to get dressed (because who is dressed already at 10am?), prepare bottles, nipples and formula for several feedings, dress the baby in a "transitional" outfit (because she, too, was not yet dressed but the froo-froo Christmas Dress was a bit much for her carseat - haha), pack her little shoes, her hair "ties", the digital camera, etc. Then I had to make sure the boys were all wearing their matching sweaters AND pants that were at least not athletic pants in the color of bright red or royal blue AND remind them not to wear boots (boots don't make great Christmas pictures). So, having succeeded in all regards and feeling oh-so-on-top, we headed out: 3 boys, one car seat containing baby girl, one frilly dress, one diaper bag, one purse, one baby sling.

But then I realized our van had not been started at all since the snow storm 36 hours ago and so it was covered in snow and - even better - an inch of ice. The door would not open, the windshield would not thaw. I could not find an ice scraper. My shoes (because I, too, refused to wear boots) were sliding all over the ice all over my driveway. The baby was hungry. And although the automatic door could not open, it also could not close completely either. Finally, a half hour later, I managed to get enough ice off the windshield to safely drive and just pretended not to hear the incessant beeping of my still-frozen-open automatic door while I prayed Noah would not fly out while we drove down the road.

Eventually I got the door shut at a red light. That's when I realized I had yet to eat anything and was feeling a bit faint. So I flew into McDonald's with 3 minutes left before breakfast ceases to be served and got some food for the road.

It was about this time that I started to relax. Apparently relax means "daydream" because shortly thereafter I realized I had somehow entered the fast line and was going 90mph. Thankful I realized this before any passing police officer, I steered back into the middle lane so I could let the car in front of me set the pace. I can not be trusted to judge such things anymore.

Finally we made it to the mall and of course the baby was sound asleep. Tony met us at the entrance and brought in the kids and car seat. I realized we had not thought to bring a stroller: between both vehicles there were NO strollers at all. Plus I had not yet made a priority of getting the nifty stroller that works with Addison's car seat. So we just made do and lugged her around.

We had to wake her up to change her into her pretty dress and prepare her to meet the Good Santa. It was around this time that we were sent to "the prestaging area". Seriously. There are songs and Renaissance-era elves who get the kids excited and then when it is your turn they announce your child/ren by name in their fancy rennaissance accent and everyone claps. We finally made our way up onto the Good Santa's lap and Addison was completely stunned. Anyone who has met her knows that she will smile at just about anything and everyone. But not so today. Although she loved Santa, she was not fond of the Elves jingle their obnoxious bells to make her smile. So she did not oblige. Instead she looked horrified with her big round eyes while she waited for them to stop. Eventually she found solace with the Good Santa's long silky beard which she pulled very hard repeatedly, much to his jolly dismay. The bigger kids smiled and said cheese, everyone shared their Christmas wishes and off we were ushered to the post-picture area where we paid our $30, picked up our cd full of pictures along with our coupon for free one-hour processing at the camera store in the mall and the kids each got three magical tokens redeemable for free goodies at any one of many participating stores in the mall.

It is usually at this point that the kids totally melt down. We are exhausted and they sense this, I think. They are hungry, they are anxious to cash in their tokens, they want want want RIGHT NOW. But none of this can be done because we need to hike it to Ritz Camera to get our pictures processed. Which, today, took 15 minutes. Then we need to cajole the kids into eating a real lunch which, today, required a 40 minute wait. During the wait for Real Food, the fun with tokens begins. What might be a fun way to spend a few hours with one child is a nightmare with 3. They all want to go to different stores but they might not REALLY want what the store has to offer so we might all hike it all the way across the mall only to have the ONE kid who HAD to get a treat from that store change his mind on the spot! Usually there is at least one meltdown when the youngest kid spends all his tokens frivolously and then wants what the older kids are getting but no longer has tokens to cash in. It is a real blast. Haha. Yet we continue to do it every year, like some sick mechanical clockwork.

Eventually we made our way home but not without leaving Tony and Noah stranded at the mall during a "car key snafu" wherein they had none and this was discovered after I was already about 15 minutes away. Thank goodness Addison slept the entire ride home and then some. Now if only I could find a way to sleep too!

To say I am glad it is over is an understatement!!! I know the kids really do love this ritual so we are happy to oblige. We will likely not be living here next year and although we love the Good Santa, we will not be coming all the way home just to visit him at the Good Mall next year. Hopefully the Woodlands has a few Good Santas of its own!