Good Monday to you!

The weekend didn't last nearly long enough for me, but then again they rarely do. On Saturday our little town had a parade. Neighbor told me about it last week. I'm glad she did or I would have never known! The parade route was maybe a block or so from our house so we walked over and copped a squat in front of the pawn shop. I don't know what it is about beads here in Louisiana but they sure love 'em! I've been to my fair share of parades and occasionally they threw things to the crowd or sprayed them with water but this one was different. Almost every float or car threw candy or beads. If they didn't they got heckled from the crowd! I wondered why Neighbor brought grocery bags with her, now I know. We packed all the kids loot in the bottom of my sons stroller so we were good. The best grab of the day? A tee shirt my daughter snatched up. It was a great time, it would have been better if my sweet CCB didn't have to work thru it.

On Sunday CCB woke up before me, which doesn't happen very often I assure you. I drug my sleepy tush out of bed around nine and it was fantastic! We decided to take the kids to see Santa and get their pictures taken, so we got dressed and headed out the door. We hopped in line only to have the lady tell us we needed a coupon. My husband went to get it and I stayed in line to save our place. I was pleased because the line wasn't long at all. My husband waved me out of line and said they gave him a pager. A PAGER! There was a 45-60 minute wait just to get in line! I appreciate the pager system to allow you more freedom but I don't ever remember waiting that long to see Santa when I was little. Then again, they didn't offer picture packages either. We got a polaroid and that was it! We let the kids run around a play area until they paged us and unfortunately the time had run out on my sons good mood. He was now late for his nap and none too happy to be leaving the play zone. We waited in line for probably another 15-20 minutes because some of the parents were very particular about the photos.

The little boy in front of us started crying as soon as his mother sat him on Santa's lap. It was really sad. In an attempt to prevent that from happening to us. I squatted down and spoke to my son in a low voice. I explained that the boy was scared of Santa but that Santa is a nice man who was going to ask him what he wanted for Christmas. My son even tried to tell the boy not to cry! Success! No. I sat my son up on Santa's knee and the tears started to roll. I asked his sister to hold his hand but that did nothing. "Mamma! I need you!" Was all he'd say. I wasn't about to make him sit on Santa's lap till I got the perfect picture so we took the first one she snapped. I figure it was an accurate description of the meeting anyway. My daughter is smiling and my son is in tears reaching for his mom.

Feel free to add to the story I started on Friday. Perhaps you can get past it's "self love" story line and free the guy from the cave! *wink wink* It's not my fault Steven started it! :)