One Thing that Needs to Go

So, I went to the mall with my mom to meet up with my aunt and uncle who are staying with my parents this weekend.  My aunt and uncle have two little boys, ages one and five.  The five year old was VERY excited to see Santa, so my mom had them meet us right in front of the brightly colored maze  Wonderland. 
While we sat and waited we saw a mother holding her daughter by the elbow and draggering her to sit on the lap of creepy jolly ol' Saint Nick.  I think the girl was three or four (I'm bad with kids' ages, but matching her up against my cousin, I would guess three or four).  I saw the look on Santa's face and I think he was thinking what I was thinking, "If she doesn't want to sit on the lap of an old man in a red suit, she should have the right to decide not to."

                                                       

On the other hand, when my aunt and uncle got there, we pointed out the man with the beard and the rosy cheeks to the five year old and his eyes lit up.  He knew what he wanted:  A pretend bow and arrow (because you can't shoot your eye out with one of those).  You could see on his face that he was preparing for the moment when he would need to tell Santa what he wanted.  A preparation that paid off.  But, and this is just me bragging on family, my aunt and uncle had the healthiest conversation in line: if the baby gets upset while sitting on Santa's lap, we're just gonna not have a pic with him and old man (the conversation wasn't in those words, but you get the gist).  I was so happy to know that they understood that Christmas is supposed to be fun for kids, and if sitting on the gift bringer's lap is lacking in the fun, let's just not do it.



Now, the day ended well, as I said before, the five year old peeled off his words to Santa like a champ and the one year old was super man and while he wasn't super thrilled to be sitting on that red velvet lap, he didn't cry and looked very regal for the pictures.  I listen to a radio show occasionally, and they have a list of "things that need to go,"  and I'd say that dragging your kid, kicking and screaming to meet Santa, is one of the things that "needs to go."