Ho Ho Ho

Growing up, even though we knew we were Jewish, as little kids my brothers and I still couldn't help but believe in the magic of Santa. My family never had a Christmas tree (or Hanukkah bush as some brethren were known to call it), but as small children we did get stockings from Santa filled with small treats (and even through high school always got See's Candy huge chocolate Easter eggs every Easter season). On occasion as a child I would spend Christmas with close friends from my swim team or school, and would get swept up in the wonderment of a glittering tree and the anticipation of Santa coming down the chimney. Because my faith was not in question and we were always taught how tolerant Judaism was, I never found it unusual or felt uncomfortable sharing Christmas with others. Instead, I have always viewed Christmas not for its religious meaning, but instead more like I view Thanksgiving, which is mostly as an occasion to spend time with loved ones and to create happy memories.

I remember sitting on Santa's lap as a kid, and getting the corny picture taken (that, back then, were put into a pre-framed card for display). So it is that we have continued the tradition with Lauren. She loves Santa and has been asking for several weeks when she can visit him again. Today presented the perfect opportunity. Even though it is Thursday, we had no childcare since Nanny Jackie took a trip east and my mom wasn't available. So I stayed home from work and Lauren and I had a fun-filled (and exhausting, at least for Mommy) day. We started our search for Santa at the Irvine Spectrum, where we saw him last year. Alas, we learned that budget cuts had limited Santa's visits to the weekend (shame on them!!!), so continued our trek to Laguna Hills Mall, where, at 10:45 a.m., we found not a soul in line (ahhhh). Lauren climbed right onto Santa's lap and began having an animated conversation with him. At the top of her wish list? "A Belle movie". She had to say it 3 times before Santa motioned me over to say he couldn't understand what she was asking for (What? He couldn't just nod his head and pretend to understand? What 3-year-old would know the difference?). So I explained that Belle was the princess from Beauty and the Beast and Lauren wanted that movie. Recognition spread across his jovial face and Lauren breathed a visible sigh of relief. Hopefully Santa turned up his hearing aid for the next child.

Of course, the difference between the Santa photo last year and this year is that last year, you could use your own camera and not pay for the formal pic. This year, apparently Santas are feeling the pinch of the economic crisis because you could only use your own camera if you met a minimum professional purchase. And of course Santa's evil little helpers neglected to tell me that fact until my child was already ensconced on Santa's lap, ready for her close-up. So, for a mere $25, you too can capture the memory of a lifetime:



Lest you think I'm bah humbugging the experience, I will say that while it was a tad painful to empty my wallet for a single image on disk, the sparkle in Lauren's eyes during the whole process (and for the rest of the day as she continued to talk about it) was, admittedly, . . . . . . . . . . priceless.