A visit with St Nick

I took Macky Rae to see Santa Claus yesterday.

Somehow he found out that Santa was at the mall (from the radio, I assume), and could not believe his luck. The one and only Santa Claus, and he was at our mall! He begged me to take him, to which I agreed.

When you are 3 years old (and a dog), Santa at your mall is an incredible stroke of luck.

The other two dogs (Freedom and Sarah) declined Macky's invitation to join us on our sojourn to the mall to see the illustrious Kris Kringle.

Sarah wanted to watch a special edition of The View, and Freedom wanted to finish reading his book.

Macky had me brush his hair, and even agreed to put on his pretty sweater. You need to look your best for Papa Noel, I suppose.

We caught the bus at the transit center, and rode to the mall, arriving around 11 or so, went in and made our way to Santa, which was made easy due to signs that said "This way to Santa." Finding him was relatively easy, but it's not that hard to find a fat man in a red suit, even with the crowds of holiday shoppers.

Macky got in line with the other kids, and after a short wait his turn came. He sat on Santa's lap, and was asked the traditional 3 questions:

1. What is your name?
2. Have you been a good boy?
3. What do you want for Christmas?

It was #3 that proved to be interesting. Macky Rae asked Santa is he had something to write with, because he didn't want Santa to forget. Santa hohohoed, and told him that he would remember it. Macky was skeptical, but Santa reassured him again, so Macky proceeded to tell him what he wanted for Christmas, after which he was given a candy cane, and we were off.

I was not shopping in the mall.

We went up the road to Costco, where just outside the main entrance was a Bell Ringer dressed as Santa Claus collecting for some charity. We were about to go in, when Macky suddenly stopped, and said he needed to go talk to Santa.

"You just talked to him" I said.

"Yes" he replied,"but I forgot to tell him what Sarah and Freedom wanted for Christmas." 

So he went up to the soliciting Santa, who upon noticing Macky at his feet, hohohoed and asked Macky what he wanted for Christmas (skipping the traditional questions #1 and #2 and going right for #3).

Macky's face at first showed shock, then outrage.

"You dumb-ass!" he barked. "I told you! It's only been twenty minutes, and you already forgot! I told you to write it down!"