Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Visit to Jolly Old St Nick

A few days ago I needed to do a little Christmas shopping, so the boys and I went out and braved the stores together. Of course we had to spend some time in the toys section- and as many kids do, the boys kept asking if they could pleeaasee buy something. This is another reason I love the Christmas season, I can give them a good reason for why we're not going to buy toys. I told them that we couldn't buy it right then, but that they could tell Santa about the things they liked. We wanted to take the boys to see Santa at the mall, and since Jeff got off a little early on Friday, we decided it would be a good time to go.

On the way in, we stopped for a minute at a little toy store- there were a bunch of fun things that they boys enjoyed looking at. From there we made a quick stop at a shoe store to see if we could find some shoes for Caleb. He has one pair of hand-me-down tennis shoes that are getting too small, and that morning I couldn't find them anywhere so he'd been wearing his other hand-me-down, well worn Sunday shoes. We found a great pair that was on clearance for $3! So we were checking to see if they had any other shoes on sale in Jacob’s size. We were all standing there together, I turned to ask Caleb something and he was gone. He had already run down different isles in the small store a couple times, but this time he wasn’t in the store. It’s a mother’s worst nightmare- your child is lost at the mall! I went out of the store, looked both ways and couldn’t see him. I had a feeling that I needed to go left, so I went down a ways, and had a though that he probably went back to the toy store. So I ran down, and sure enough there he was, right in the front of the toy store looking at the games again. I was so grateful, and especially grateful that I had found him so quickly. As a mother, I can’t think of many worse feelings than having a lost child! This boy really needs a leash!

After Caleb got a good talking to, we made our way down to the mall Santa. The line wasn’t too bad, so we didn’t have to wait long. I knew we weren’t going to pay for the mall pictures, so I found a little spot where I could manage a shot. It wasn’t the greatest, but I was at least able to capture Matthew’s reaction- typical and pretty funny. "Save me from Santa!"Jacob and Caleb were able to tell Santa what they wanted, and got a little coloring book as a gift.

The boys-minus Matthew- had fun visiting Santa and I was grateful that we came home with all three children!

2 comments:

Perfectly Imperfect said...

Oh, Angela! You lose a child in a mall in Idaho and you panic - you lose a child in a mall in Philly and you go into cardiac arrest!!! That is seriously frightening. I lived it just for a second with you. I am SO glad that you followed your prompting and found him quickly. Little boys. Oy! I loved the scream Santa prompted from Matthew too. Anna is at the poing where she isn't scared - per say - but she has the strange "why in the heck do you have your jolly red arms around me? You better let me go NOW and bring me what I want at Christmas or I am going to hunt you down!" Good times.

The Manwarings said...

I have lost Kaylee before in a store. It is the worst feeling! I think that it is so funny that when the children are just little they hate Santa but as they get older he is their favoite thing. :)What a fun family trip to see santa.