We went to the Mall yesterday to have the kids pictures taken with Santa. I thought it was going to be a mob scene, but much to my surprise we only had to wait for one child to scream through their picture. Marlin is usually shy and clingy. She is NOT a fan of Santa. Somehow I was able to convince her to stand near Santa and have her picture taken. The line moved quickly so she didn't have time to think about it and back out. Our time came and we quickly made sure that there were no boogers on noses, hair was decent, and wiped cookies off chins. Gave them the Santa is not scary pep talk, stuck a boy on either knee, and positioned Marlin up front. I stood back by the camera lady and yelled for them to look at me a smile. Well, Kaya looked befuddled, Evren, a deer in headlights, and Marlin tried her best to look pleasant in a forced and sucky situation. So all in all, a success! Marlin even attempted to tell Santa what she wanted. Remember, this is a big brave step for her. He said " what?" Crap, Santa is deaf. She said "a kitchen" again. Santa leans in, hand to ear, Marlin says "Kitchen" Santa says "A Dora Kitchen?" Marlin just looked at me and gave me the get me away from Santa glare. I switched focus to Kaya. I said, "Tell Santa what you would like". He smiles, eyes widen, "Thomas!" Santa says "A Truck?, I'll try." I laughed, scooped up the kids and paid my 12 bucks for the proof of our torturous visit with Santa. I'll scan a copy to post so you can giggle later this week. As we were leaving the Mall, and I was buckling Marlin in her seat, she glanced out the window. She says "Mom, it looks like they need to practice their letters more" I look over and she is pointing to the Lord & Taylor Logo. I said "well, they tried". She said " They'll get better". Funny.