I am Happy to Report.......

Santa is no longer known as "The Scary Man" in our house:)

Our trip to the "north pole" was much different than last year's visit. Click HERE for a walk down memory lane.

For starters, we got there and Santa was on lunch at 2pm in the afternoon. Just my luck:) But no worries, there was plenty for Sarah to checkout until he returned. She was so excited and her eyes were as big as half dollars as she looked around at all the lights and decorations. Of course, I was not far behind with camera in hand snapping away, when all of a sudden I feel a tap on my shoulder.....

I turn around and see mall security standing there. This woman looks at me and says "you are not allowed to take pictures here." I said, "Oh, don't worry, we are waiting for Santa to come back from lunch and I will be buying a package from the portrait studio. I just wanted a few photos of my daughter waiting for Santa to arrive." She said, "no, you don't understand what I am saying. You cannot take photos anywhere in this mall. This is private property and every picture you just took, must be deleted."

She actually stood there and made me delete each and every photo. I was so stinkin mad..... I have never heard such a thing!

Last year, they told me I could take pictures around Santa's workshop, but not inside or while Sarah was sitting in his lap. I guess I can understand that, but no pictures at all......that is just unbelievable. What parent doesn't bring their own camera when the kids are going to see Santa or the Easter Bunny?? And while we are at it....how many of us blogger Mama's carry a camera with us almost everywhere we go???

When Santa finally came back from his lunch break, we were first in line. Santa's helpers announced that Santa was on his way..... we looked down the mall and there he was.....headed to the "North Pole". Sarah squealed with delight as she saw him coming. He sat down in his big comfy chair and waived Sarah over. She did not miss a beat and ran over without a glance over her shoulder...... I was so happy that she was not afraid of him like last year, but at the same time I was burning on the inside knowing that I was not getting any of this with my camera.

Once she got into his lap, she stared at him without blinking for what seemed like minutes. If you could have seen her sitting there gazing up at him.......it was so precious. The whole time I just wanted to whip out my camera......I was even tempted to use my iphone to catch a moment or two, but I was too chicken that the mall cop was going to come after me again.

This Santa was so gentle and kind.....maybe it was best we got there when he was fresh and just coming back from a break, because he was such a sweetheart:) Sarah was loving every minute of her visit and would have stayed there all day if he let her. I caught some of the conversation between them and I couldn't help but giggle as I listened.

Sarah told Santa that she was going to leave him her Nu Nu{aka, the pacifier}with his plate of cookies on Christmas Eve. She then told him that she is now a big girl and big girls don't use Nu Nu's. He should give her Nu Nu to a little baby who needs one and in return he should leave her something special under the tree. Santa seemed to love this.....and then asked her what she would like him to leave for her. She told him she wanted a bunny.......

I have no idea where that came from, but that is what she wants....a bunny!! During our drive back home, she told me that she wanted a pretend bunny, not the real kind...... THANK GOODNESS!!! I can barely handle one 20 lb, hypoallergenic nonshedding dog......there is NO WAY I am going to have a bunny hopping through this house!!

So, if the camera episode wasn't enough to burn me up for one day..... I walked in the door to see that my Christmas Card order arrived. I opened the box and was extremely disappointed with what I saw..... I picked a certain paper finish that I thought would give the card a nice and elegant look....

Big mistake, it does look nice, but I think the paper changed the colors....it seemed to warm up the picture a bit too much and I think the kids faces look a little yellowish......

I have a phone call into the printhouse. I am praying they can help me out. It will pain me to send these out the way they look now....... I never return or complain about anything, and can usually let the small things slide, but this I can't.

A frustrating day to say the least, but in the end....I did get to see that sweet, smiling face nose to nose with Santa. She has yet to stop talking about the big guy in red:)