But, with no photos today (this one is from yesterday). We headed out to the mall today. I know, I know you are asking, “what were you thinking?”. Apparently I wasn’t. Usually if you go to the mall first thing in the morning on a Sunday you miss all the crowds. But, not today.
The first shocking thing was that there was a huge line up to see Santa already and he wasn’t even at the Village. Hubby and I did a few stores and headed up to one more on the third floor. There was a huge crowd of people at the entrance to the mall. Kids were everywhere, there were risers for them to sit and watch. We could barely get through. Finally, Hubby asked another Dad what was going on. He looked at us strangely and said, “Santa of course, there is a parade today”.
We decided to wait and watch instead of trying to break through the crowds to get to the store. It was cute. There were clowns, elves (kids from a dance school) and mascots from sports teams. After waving to Santa we went on our way. Little did we know that Santa’s Parade went around each of the three floors of the mall, singing and dancing.
By the time we stopped for lunch and headed out, Santa was just arriving at the Village. I could not believe it. There were parents that had been waiting for two hours with their kids all dressed up to get their photos with Santa. No wonder there are so many stories of kids crying and not wanting to have their photos taken. They are exhausted people! Just do what I do and get to the Mall first thing in the morning on a Tuesday. There is nobody there and you just walk up, chat with Santa and get your photo taken. Tada. We will be doing that another day.
On a good note we knocked off a couple of J’s presents today, it was quick and painless and he was none the wiser.
Today was pretty much the perfect day for a Parade. We have a birthday party tonight so we won’t be able to attend our local parade (Barrhaven Lions Parade), so we went to the next best thing. The parade in the next major subdivision (Kanata Parade). We could have braved the crowds and headed to the Downtown Ottawa Parade, but we wanted a happy time, not a frustrated time. As it was there were enough ‘Jacks’ in the parking lot taking too many spaces or parking crooked so that others left nasty notes on their windshield. But alas, twas not us, so let’s forget about those guys.
We did leave a little later than we had wanted too so we were at the end of the parade route instead of the beginning. Being at the beginning is fun as all the people in the parade are still warm and all geared up. Being at the end means they can hardly move they are so cold and they are all Christmas’d out. Either way J had a wonderful time, Apple slept on and off througout and Hubby and I sang along and danced with the crowds (ok we swayed more than danced, but it was still moving).
The only thing missing from the Parade today was that I forgot to pack some hot chocolate. Otherwise it was perfect. The tooth fairy even made an appearance and handed out toothbrushes! And Santa was a Jolly Fella right up until they dropped him at the Mall to start taking photos with all the kids inside. He is going to be one busy guy today.
Thanks for waving for me Santa! We wish you a Merry start to the Holiday Season.
In the spirit of my homemade Christmas I think I have everybody figured out except the boys (ok, Men).
Here is my list of stuff so far that I am making and hopefully my Sister’s aren’t lurking in the shadows. And if they are they just won’t be as surprised as I would like. This is random and some is for the kids and some is for the adults.
- Aprons
- Fridge Magnets
- Laptop Sleeves (ok the kids don’t have laptops so, there you go)
- Hats
I am stuck for the Guys. After all these years (it’s been 8 that we have all been together) I am drawing blanks at what to get or do for the guys. It used to be so easy when they didn’t have garages full of tools. Even more so that I am trying to make stuff homemade. If anybody has any wonderful ideas please pass them along. If not, I may have to make purchases for these guys.
