Santa

About three weeks ago, a flier came in the mail.  It showed an arm, clothed in red velvet, a white gloved hand holding a silver "old-time" alarm clock.  It simply said, "It's Time!"  On the back it said that Santa would arrive at Bellevue Square on November 23rd.

 

Kyle wrote "Santa" on the calendar, in the square for November 23rd, and he began counting down the days...

 

Now you realize that November 23rd, was BLACK FRIDAY...right?

 

And Bellevue Squre is a MALL!

 

That's right,  "MALL" is a four-letter word....

 

And BLACK FRIDAY and MALL should never be said in the same sentence! 

 

 

However -- it was on the calendar -- we had counted down the days....

 

...what was to be done?  We went to the MALL on BLACK FRIDAY and visited Santa!

 

 

We timed it though, so that "Snowflake Lane" would be started by the time we got there, we were hoping this would reduce the line waiting for Santa.

 

What is "Snowflake Lane" you ask? 

 

Well, in Bellevue there are two malls across the street from one another.....for you who live in  Salt Lake -- think Crossroads Mall and the ZCMI Center -- which I know do not exist any longer....but you get the idea.  The street between these malls is decorated with lights and with platforms that look like drums.  At seven o'clock p.m. every night, music begins to blare from many outdoor speakers....good, up-beat Christmas music, and drummers, dressed as toy soldiers,  march out of the malls and take up residence on the platforms facing the street.  They drum and dance to the music.  It is quite an awesome spectacle to see!  While they play,  there are "toy-soldiers" on stilts, reindeer, snow fairies, snow queens, princes, and snowmen who mingle with the crowds passing out the most atrocious tasting lollipops (but it's the thought right).  Toward the end of the 30 minute show, it begins to snow.  Now snow is a relative term....IF it's raining....it's not snow.  IF it's cold, and dry, you might see a few flakes, mostly it's kinda more like bubbles -- but again, it's the thought that counts.....

 

Anyway, we got to the mall -- it was packed!  People everywhere!

 

But the line for Santa was short.  We waited almost 10 minutes....and that's an excellent wait time. 

 

Kyle had on his Santa shirt, and hat. 

 

He strutted over to the sleigh, while the elves, the photographer and Santa himself said,

 "Kyle!  You're here!"

 

He smiled with Santa, he got his stuffed reindeer, we paid for the pictures (and got a free page of wallet size....don't ask....I don't know why!), Kyle took the picture envelope, sighed, like he was the happiest toad in the world, and said...."Santa, school."  And he took his photo's to school on Monday.  All was right with his world.

 

Twins!  Except for the beard.....

 

It is so awesome!  Kyle will always believe in Santa, and we will always have the magic alive in Kyle!