Santa Trip Gone Sour

Tonight I took the girls to see Santa. It was a much anticipated event.

You see, we had actually planned to go last Thursday, but Daphne had the throw-up/24 hr bug. I hadn't planned for illness and it threw my perfectly planned advent calendar out of whack. I bounced back and switched things around and instead, we had a wonderful evening entitled, "Family Game Night - Christmas Style". They unwrapped a new Christmas Matching Game (it was a dollar one I found at Michaels) to kick off the nights' games. It's a cute little game - but goes fast with 4 people (Ruby and I were a team). Then we played Christmas Bingo. Find it here if you too want to play it~ http://www.dltk-cards.com/bingo/bingo1.asp Lastly, I put the easel in the middle of the living room floor and we played Christmas pictionary. The girls thought of their own subjects and did a really cute job of drawing. Maisie was the first to draw and when Daphne guessed correctly, she got very peeved and said, "Daphne cheated...she guessed it before I was done drawing"...she is our artist and had to finish all the details before stopping:)








So, back to today and a second attempt at Santa. It was going to have to be executed perfectly. We would leave when Daphne got home from school. I would pack snacks and drinks to avoid any costs besides gas. I even borrowed a couple Christmas cartoons for the long ride. We would have to be quick to get back for a 7pm meeting I had at church. Everything was going as planned until we arrived to the mall of choice. Maisie started complaining of her tummy hurting (this had happened this am too, but it seemed to go away). I was about to turn the van around and sadly call it quits, but her cramps seemed to wane and she said we could try.

I got them bundled up for the outdoor mall experience and we sailed right into a NO LINE Santa experience. We entered a cozy little house, complete with coloring tables, fireplace and candy canes and a Santa that could win prizes. They walked up to him and got their peppermint stick. Each took a turn telling him what they wanted for Christmas, but they seemed nervous and he wasn't great at engaging them. We were about ready to take a picture when Maisie's eyes got really big and she bent over in pain and started heaving. After throwing up once, I quickly got her outside, but didn't make it too far when she threw up A LOT more, right on the ramp up to the Santa House.

I had no wipes or anything. I had to borrow a passerby's and clean Maisie up the best I could. Then I put her on the outside bench with her candy cane to suck on, and went back in to apologize and get the other girls. I DID get a quick picture of them on Santa's lap as I kept my eye on Maisie out on the bench.



They had to close the Santa House temporarily and I explained and apologized to a couple families that had just showed up to visit.

We were only at the mall for a short time and we had to head straight back to the van.

Oh well. It's one memory I shan't forget. Not so merry, but I'll hold onto taking care of my little five year old for sure.

(in fact this post was composed in two parts, interrupted once by a crying little girl with a very bad tummy ache)