This morning, my mom interrupted my Terribly Important Morning of slothing and asked if I wanted to go walk at the mall. She knows I need the exercise, and she thinks she’s getting arthritis in her knee so she wants to walk as much as possible to keep it loosened up.
Helen was at school, so I packed up Miss Alice and we went to the mall to join my mom walking around before the stores were open.
Once the stores were open and the kiosks were uncovered, we started window-shopping. And when Alice had finally had enough at 11, we got her some chicken at Chick-Fil-A and then went to BabyGap to check out the sales there. I got Alice a red velveteen skirt for $1.97. No, that’s not a typo. One hundred and ninety-seven CENTS. Rock on. The fabric alone is worth more than that.
I also got the girls matching little outfits for their picture with Santa, if I can get Helen to agree to sit in the man’s lap for more than 20 seconds. I’m trying to figure out how to best bribe her to do it — last year she was crying in the picture. I imagine this year might have the same result, since she gives the Santa house a VERY wide berth when we pass it in the mall.
Anyway. Their matching little outfits were all on sale at BabyGap as well — red velour flippy little skirts, off-white lace-trimmed shirts with red roses on them (not skanky at all — very cute), and red and white striped tights. I’m very excited about the tights. And so is Helen. She INSISTED on trying on the outfit as soon as she saw it — especially the “Long Socks.” She loves Long Socks.
So. I managed to wrestle the outfit back off of her so that she could have “Rest” without the risk of wrecking it, and maybe we’ll go do photos with Santa when Alice wakes up. If Helen is still interested. Helen just might do it if she knows she gets to wear Long Socks. I just hope Alice doesn’t completely freak out, which is the typical response of an 18-month-old when faced with Santa pictures — which is why we don’t have one for Helen at that age. It was just NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.
Wish me luck, though. If it doesn’t work, we’re going to go to Target instead.
If need be, we can pull out the big guns of Helen bribes: the legendary Elmo Cookie.
She’s talking about Santa a lot this year, so we might have a shot at pulling this off.
Send in The Fearless One first.
If she freaks, Big Sister can show her how to be brave.
If she doesn’t, Big Sister has to live up to the standards set by her LITTLE SISTER.
giggle.
Jeff White is shooting Santa pictures at a studio in the Heart of Huntsville mall and printing them into Christmas cards. If mall Santa didn’t work out, drop him a line.
Oh, and Gary Knight is Santa!!