We almost didn’t meet him.

A friend emailed five minutes before and asked, “Do your kids want to meet us at the community centre for a Santa thing?”

Well, I was trying to bribe the kids with hugs Smarties if they could find me the pairs to some odd socks kicking around.

“Sure, we’ll meet you there.”

I may have mentioned before, our third born gets completely forgotten and has missed out on dozens of opportunities that were just assumed mandatory parent-chaperoned outings with the older two.

One of those was gearing up for a rare meet and greet with Santa.
I tried on the way to the community centre to use my random socks, now adorable driving puppets to make a huge deal about meeting the big man.

I tutored Chloe on what might be asked of her and over and over she repeated the following; “Hi Santa, for Christmas I want a princess crown, princess shoes and a cell phone. Hi Santa, for Christmas I want a princess crown, princess shoes and a cell phone. Hi Santa…..”

We made it into “Santa’s Den” (Chloe’s old preschool classroom) and she eagerly hopped up on his lap.

Huh, the other two never would have willingly done that.

He said, “Hello little girl.” (Um, how does he know where I live but not my name?)

“Hi Santa.”

“What would you like for Christmas this year little girl?”

“Chips.”

And off she ran.