Mission Accomplished! (Barely)

We did it! We got Andra on Santa's lap. By the skin of our teeth. :)

Let me back up. Andra refused to get within 20 feet of Santa last year. She loved seeing him in books and movies, but wanted nothing to do with him in "real life." But this year, she was talking a big talk...saying she'd sit on his lap on one condition: that her blankie could come with her. Fair enough. :)

So we headed to the museum today to see Santa and see if Andra was all talk. She was. Once we got within view of him, she said she didn't want to sit on his lap afterall. So I scooped her up and we started chatting with Santa. Then I plopped Alec on his lap. I think once Andra saw that her baby brother was sitting on Santa's lap and not afraid, she decided she could handle it too. So I plopped her in his lap (with her blankie, of course) and snapped a picture before she had a chance to change her mind. And despite weeks of practicing her list to recite to Santa, I think she was a little star struck once she was on his lap; she couldn't remember a single thing on her list to ask him for!

To be honest, I was a little bah-humbug today. You see, the entire purpose of our trip was for Andra to ride the little train in the Christmas exhibit (her train obsession continues). We'd been talking about the train for several days. When we arrived, we heard a nasty rumor that the train was...BROKEN. And wouldn't be running for a couple more days. I refused to believe it. Upon confirmation of this nasty rumor, I had to break the bad news to Andra. It didn't go over well, and I had a heartbroken, lower-lip-quivering, crying 3 year-old on my hands. She had her heart set on riding that train. My attitude soured even more when an old blue-haired lady declared that my heartbroken little girl was being "crabby." I almost unleashed my mommy fury on her. Crabby?? No. Heartbroken? Definitely.

I squelched her tears with a snack from my purse. Only to be told snacking was not allowed in the museum. So then we decided a fancy lunch in the tea room would help cheer her up. Come to find out, you MUST have reservations to eat in the tea room. Lovely. Next was the Santa visit, where I was required to turn MY camera over to Mrs. Claus to take some crummy pictures from a great distance. Or, of course, I could pay $18 for the professional one (even though I'd just paid FULL museum admission, despite the broken train!). I sweet-talked Mrs. Claus into PLEASE letting me take ONE photo...only to be told I had to stand a certain number of feet away from Santa to be allowed to take my photo with MY camera. Seriously?!? Merry Christmas to you too, Mrs. Claus. Oh, and Santa was right next to the sad little broken train, which was just like rubbing salt in Andra's wounds.

So we settled for greasy pizza in the museum cafeteria, a bit mopey, then headed toward the exit...only to experience our Christmas miracle. A staff member stopped us to tell us the train had been repaired!!! I'd like to kiss the engineer who repaired that train!

This was Andra's response to the good news. :) Too bad old blue-haired lady couldn't see my "crabby" little girl now.

So all was well again in Andra's little world. I guess I should've kept the faith. Lesson learned. :)
Merry Christmas to all, and to all skilled engineers nearby!