You better be good for goodness' sake...

We're into the throes of December and our calendar is jam-packed from now until the second week of January. This weekend we had our company's adult Christmas party on Friday night, company for dinner on Saturday night, and our company's children's party last night.

We'd been prepping the kids for a while and trying to narrow down what they want from Santa so they'd be ready to ask for it while sitting on his knee at said event. Liam's was decided some time ago: the McDonald's set, Diego game, and golf balls. Mallory needed some assistance but finally decided that she would like a princess puzzle, a doll, and a new movie. Liam started saying a few days ago that he had no intention of sitting on Santa's lap, even as Mallory rehearsed her lines.

We got to the party, which was a bit chaotic, found some seats, got something to eat, picked up the kids' gifts... Santa was mingling with the crowd through all of this... and then there was a bunch of confusion as the entertainment for the evening, a magician, got started in the spot where Santa was supposed to sit to receive his visitors. (Like I said... somewhat chaotic.) And in the midst of all this, Chad had to take Liam on a bathroom run when he suddenly announced that he wasn't feeling well. Liam wanted to go home (and we wanted to take no chances) but Mallory was crushed that she wouldn't get her time with Santa, who at that point was still not taking visitors. As luck would have it, the party organizers chose that exact moment to hustle Santa out to the lobby and run him in parallel with the magician who had taken over the main stage.

We hoofed it out into the lobby and got Mallory situated on Santa's knee before the rest of the crowd could follow. She clearly told him what she wants - no hesitation. Liam still didn't want to talk to Santa, so we told him we'd drop a letter in the mail. And that was that - we were back home just over an hour after we'd left.

So here is the 2009 photo of Mallory on Santa's lap. I guess there will be a blank spot on this page in Liam's album.