Santa Baby

On Saturday, we finally took Ruby to see the big guy.  Yep, Santa.

I've pretty much been awaiting this moment since last Christmas.  And I won't lie, I was hoping for a crying picture, too.

After having a REALLY hard time finding a Christmas dress for her that I liked, in her size (have I mentioned toddlers have much better options for just about everything?  I'm pretty picky with my Ruby-style, but she's still rockin' the 6mo sizes), we had to try to find a time to actually take her.  I didn't want to do evenings or weekends -hello, no long lines with a baby!- but Mr. G just started a new job, so his schedule is kind of whack.

Which means we went on a Saturday.  To one of the busiest malls around here.

Waiting in the Santa line.

Actually?  It wasn't that bad.  We were only there about 40min, and Miss R lasted about half that time in her stroller even!  Mr. G also spent most of that time in the Starbucks line.  Yeah.  The Starbucks line at the mall is almost worse than the Santa line...

While waiting, we saw Santa's reindeer flying:

And these two goofed around (actually, she spent a lot of time trying to drink his caramel macchiato):

Then, finally, it was time to see the big guy.  We hit the jackpot with Santas - he totally looked legit.  We were certain Ruby would cry.  By this point, she wanted to be held only by me and was starting to get hungry.  At the very least, we figured she'd pull his beard, but no.

She sat down on his lap and just stared, deer in the headlights.  Then the flash started going off.  I never use a flash, so on the rare occasion she encounters one, she gets this WTF look on her face and is all annoyed afterward.  So that's what we were dealing with.  The "elves" were trying to make her smile, and were like, "Oooh, she's a serious baby."  But they finally got her to crack one.  Sort of.

She looks like a complete and total goober, and not much like herself.  I'm holding out hope for a crying picture next year.

Ruby's dress is from Baby Gap, tights from Target, shoes from Old Navy (a long time ago), and headband from Etsy seller Cocolicious Couture.