There Goes Santa Claus

Milk and Cookies with Santa. Arts and crafts. $5 That's the sign I saw at the gym this week. We went to this last year, and Maddie had a blast. She made reindeer food (oats and glitter, so Rudolph can see it from the sky), ate loads of cookies and drank chocolate milk.

After last week's fiasco, I asked her repeatedly if she wanted to go and if she would sit in his lap. She promised me she would, and was really excited about it.

This morning, Maddie did the unthinkable. She slept until 9. I knew we had to hurry because last year there was a huge line and when Santa is done, he's done. But, I was pretty sure that last year he stayed until 11, so as long as we were there by 10, we'd be golden.

We rushed around getting ready and left in plenty of time. Of course, I forgot the camera, so we had to turn around to get it. I went ahead and fixed another cup of coffee because I knew I would need it.

I had planned on stopping at McDonald's to get Maddie a biscuit, but when I saw the line, I knew we would be pushing it to get to Santa in time. I decided that cookies had the same nutritional value as a golden arches biscuit, so we bypassed that and headed straight there. The only problem was that we had to go the long way, because McDonald's (thankfully) is not exactly on the way to the gym.

I get the closest parking spot I can. Whew! We made it at 10:05. Plenty of time. I sign her in and Oh. Crap. It ended at 10. Santa was walking out the freakin' door as we were walking in.

She looked up at me and her lip started to quiver. I started crying. I couldn't help it. I'm sure I looked like a crazy woman, but when you disappoint your child that badly, tears are likely. Dangit, if I hadn't forgotten the camera, in the first place, I wouldn't have gotten that cup of coffee. If I had just given her a pop tart, instead of going the long way to McDonald's, which we never even went to, we would have made it in time. I'm. A. Terrible. Mommy.

I grabbed the last cookie on the table, poured her a glass of milk and found a seat. I tried to explain that we would see him another time. She asked about the reindeer food. I saw the station that was set up to make it. The people were starting to clean it up, so I jacked a premade bag of it. I was already the wacko who cried because her daughter didn't see Santa, might as well be the thief, as well. What else could I do?

Oh yeah, this:
"Maddie, you wanna go to Target? I'll get you some princess lip gloss."

"Okay!!"

That's my girl.