Me: "Wat was the fight about?"
Sophia: "I cut in line."
Me: "Why did you do that?"
Sophia: "Because there were 20 year olds in that line! What's THAT about?! I have four girls under seven and it's hard enough just leaving the house let alone having to wait in line for half an hour while adults sit on Santa's knee for a laugh."
Me: "What do you mean, for a laugh? Why were there 20-year-olds in the line?"
Sophia: "Apparently it's ironic. There were also parents with newborn babies. How RIDICULOUS is that? How terrified is a baby going to be of Santa? You'll bloody scar them for life! All I wanted to do was to take my age-appropriate children for a Santa photo and I've ended up taking on a hostile crowd in Westfield. Ho bloody ho."
I didn't do the Santa-lap thing this year. It always strikes me as a little creepy. And also? The thought of dragging my brood to Westfield and standing in line with schoolies and uni students is about as appealing as eating a box of hair.
Top Comments
Sorry Mia, but your friend does seem a bit rude. Those 20year olds are paying customers & there is nothing wrong with wanting a bit of fun around Christmas time. Also, pushing in isn't fair to anybody who had been waiting that long.
Now that's out of the way, I shall share my two most recent Santa stories...
Last year I was celebrating Christmas in Nepal with my parents. The Santa was a skinny Nepalese man who had red torn trackies & a red top stuffed with pillows. His hat was dirty, & his beard was stuck on with a bandaid. BANDAID! The overall affect was kind of scary.
This year, my uncle Graham did it. He was a little tipsy, & the results were hilarious. When calling a young boy to his lap for his christmas present from Santa he said "Come & sit on Grah... Grandpa Clauses lap!" It was ridiculous, especially when he called his wife to his lap for a Christmas kiss & wouldn't take the milk & cookies, preferring a beer.
Ah, good times are sure to be had with a Santa around at Christmas time!
I agree with the comments that view your friend as incredibly rude. I have a 4 year old and am heavily pregnant, but would never pull that "I've got kids so let me first" crap. I see this all the time in our local shopping centre. I was first in a lift once with my son, then a family got in - mum, nanna in a wheelchair, and mum's two teenage sons. As the doors were closing, a mum with a pram sprinted up and jammed the door. She then suggested that the two boys could get out and walk because they were young and fit and she had a pram. The boys' mum rightly pointed out that they were all together and had been first. Mum with pram stands there huffing and puffing. The nerve!
If you don't want to wait in line, get there very early or come back later. You are not more important than everyone else in the world. This attitude drives me beserk!
As for Christmas photos, I feel a bit sorry for kids having to endure the photo op when they are clearly distressed. My son has been willing and interested the last two years, but before that was too scared, so we skipped it.
And as for the 20 year olds, don't judge them so harshly. As people have pointed out, they may have a range of motivations. As I noted above, I am heavily pregnant and have had some pretty unpleasant complications the last 3 or 4 weeks. As a Christmas gift, my team of postgraduate students and research assistants (I work in a university) waited patiently in line and had their photo taken with Santa to give to me with their nice messages and signatures. It was the funniest and most touching gift I've received in a long time.