I believe in the spirit of... advertising?

We finally got around to taking the kids to see Santa (why do I always type 'Satan' instead of Santa?).  I have a photo of them sitting on his lap every Christmas since Jack's first that we hang up each year.  The kids love to see how much they've changed from year to year, so despite the difficulties in finding a Santa, off we went to the local shopping mall.  There don't seem to be a lot of Santa choices here, like in Seattle, where there are great ones in many of the downtown department stores. Anyway, we went to the mall with all the other Virginian families and waited  a loooooong time in line.  With lots of restless kids.  It was kind of creepy, too.  The whole thing must have been sponsored by the new Chronicles of Narnia movie because there were video screens all along the line playing clips from the movie.  Crass and yucky.

Here is where I point out that I took the girls to an actual department store to pick out some fancy dresses.  We're taking the kids to New York next week and I figured they should have something nice that actually fits.  I've always just ordered their clothes online due to my religion, the Church of the Agoraphobic.  Letting them pick out any dress they wanted was actually a great experience for all three of us.  It reminded me that having girls can be so good.  Grace wears dresses all the time, so picking out a new dress was a piece of cake for her. Olivia wears a dress about once a year, and only when forced and bribed for a photo or wedding.    Also, shopping for clothes or shoes with her is a total nightmare.  She doesn't like seams or tags or things to be too loose.  Or too tight.  Or too scratchy.  Or with buttons on the shirts.  Or anything that chokes her, like crewnecks or turtlenecks, but it can't be too low of a v-neck, because she might feel cold.  So, when she found one right away that she fell in love with, I was ecstatic.  The dresses they picked out reflect their personalities so much.  I would like to add that Grace needed silver sparkle tights and shiny boots to "create the look she was going for".  Those were her exact words.

The picture doesn't capture very well that snow was falling inside this little atrium.  With more screens playing movie clips everywhere.  Did I mention yuck about the product placement?

This isn't the professional pic I payed a zillion dollars for.  I'm still trying to convince Mitch to photoshop Jack into it.  When it was over, Grace said, "That might have been the real one.  Or a Virginia helper.  I can't decide.  He sure talked fast like the people here do, but I'm glad he wasn't a Beef and Cheese Santa, anyway."  Beef and Cheese Santas are the obvious fakes.  In the movie "Elf", there's a fake Santa that smells like beef and cheese, according to Buddy.  Ever since we saw that movie for the first time, we always call fake looking Santas 'Beef and Cheese Santas'.  Henry was on his best "I believe" behavior.  We told him that if he doesn't at least believe in the spirit of Santa, then all he'll get for Christmas is a Handsome Sweater and socks.