Santa's Little Helper

First of all, thank you all for the support and love you showed me yesterday. Your messages, comments, and texts were overwhelming. It's great to know that everyone has doubt and questions themselves regardless of the decisions that they have made for themselves and their families. I felt all of your prayers and will be praying for you guys too.

My Dad came to visit last weekend and one his "must do's" was to get Avery's picture taken on Santa's lap. She also had to "look like a girl and wear a dress." My dad's words, not mine. Implying that Avery doesn't always look like a girl. I catch SO much crap from my sisters and my Mom and Elaine (my stepmom) that Avery doesn't wear enough dresses. And then they all buy her these scratchy tutus that Avery doesn't wear because, really? And I DO dress her up for appropriate occasions.

1. Are you freaking kidding me? I have the dirty kid. I went outside 2 times last week from pouring a cup of coffee and Avery was straight up carrying around dog poop. Does this also reflect on me as a parent? Sure. I'll turn my back for 2 minutes to pee or get a drink. BUT she will roll around and put dog poop in her pockets. Why am I going to put her in a dress and tights? Come on.

2. I put her in dresses all the time! Seriously. I just put pants on underneath them because Troy wants her to be modest. Bloomers aren't enough for him.

3. It's starting to get cold and I am not going to get her all gussied up with nowhere to go, just to fulfill some desire of my family for her to be frilly. If she decides to wear bows and ribbons and tutus, that's up to her. But for now, I am a practical momma. And if that just means pink, purple and teal t-shirts with jeggings, that's fine by me.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox. They'll see when they have a little girl. You'll see...

On Saturday morning we all loaded up in the car and headed down to the Fashion Show Mall. Which is everything that name implies. I don't know how often they have fashion shows there, but there is a runway in the middle of the mall. And it's super high end. Most of the mall is designer shops. Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales, Versace. That stuff.

We finally figured out where Santa was located (not in the middle, that's where the runway is) and headed over there. The best thing about living in Las Vegas? FREE PARKING EVERYWHERE! It's awesome.

So we put Avery in her Christmas costume and she gets her first look at Santa. She looks like she's giving him the stink eye. All "I don't know about this." I honestly thought she was going to freak out because she has about ZERO experience with anyone over the age of 60 or with that much facial hair.

Then she was saw the set up and was like "BALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!" And proceeded to hug all of the oversized ornaments on the ground around his little picture booth. She had everyone laughing.

This is her walking to the ornament directly to the left of Santa to give it a hug. He chuckled. All "ho, ho, ho."

How great is this Santa? He should have been on the Macy's float. And he was great with Avery too. We started by all of us sitting with him and Avery sitting on Troy's lap for a few practice shots. Then we put her on Santa's lap for a few shots. And then we all got up and she screamed for a minute. Then I handed her a set of jingle bells and she halfway smiled at the bells. The photographer was good and got lucky with this shot:

I mean, really? Isn't it SO cute??? I just love it! Santa was sitting inside a giant, tufted ornament that was cut in half. I'm glad that we put Avery in green, or she would have looked like a floating head in all that red. My mom sent a box the day before with that elf outfit in it. Good timing, Mom!

I tried to get a good picture of Avery and me, but that didn't so much pan out. She was too excited about all of the balls. And I can't help but laugh because I'm immature. She was running around yelling "BALLLLLLLL, BALLLLLLLL" and hugging them. Adorable.