Yesterday was the last day of school and work for my kiddos and the husband. So we decided to celebrate afterwards with that dreaded visit to the mall Santa. We got to the mall and decided we needed some some sustenance before tackling the Big Guy so we went to the food court to eat. Chick Fil a was the winner (It always is) and the prize in the kids meal was watches with cow faces. The kids were thrilled.

After dinner we got up and walked to the other side of the mall to see glorious Santa. The line was pretty long but we really did not mind and stood in it right away. It was about 5:00 and it was moving slowly but steady. About a minute later one of Santa’s helpers walked around the line to tell everyone some info. First of all Santa would be taking a 30 minute break in exactly 30 minutes. My oldest promptly looked at her brand new cow watch and started counting down the minutes in a worried state knowing we were cutting it very close. The second bit of news the employee told us was that there was absolutely no outside photo’s to be taken, phone cameras included. I was a little shocked. I had always been able to take a photo here before.  The Employee then handed us a price list for photo’s. The cheapest option was 22 dollars!!! For that you received a 5 x 7 and two 3 x 5′s There was no way I would ever pay that much for photo’s that were printed off of a printer using a camera exactly like the one I had around my neck!

I am usually a rule follower I really am but seriously? With the way they were acting about it they were begging for people to break the rules. My mind started turning. How can I get a picture? My plan ended up consisting of putting my daughters coat strategically over the button and the light without covering the  lens of the camera as it lay around my neck.

I began practicing. This was pretty scandalous of me, don’t you think? The line was still moving slowly and Shriek our time monitor was yelling out every minute that the time was getting closer to Santa’s break. No way did we want to wait an extra 30 minutes for Santa to use the restroom.

I had shown Brandon my test shots and asked him if he thought my devious plan would work. He admitted I was getting pretty good at it. I was going to go through with it.

It was 5:28 we were second to next in line. The high school age employee fake smiled at us and said “it’s a maybe, don’t get your hopes up too high.” She also reminded us again and again of the no photo rule.

As the little gate opened for our turn to meet Santa I saw him start to slowly get up. NO! I yelled Surprised at the volume of my voice. I had heard the girl employee refer to her manager as *Brian. I immediately used that to my advantage.

“Brian!” I said like he was my long lost cousin. “Please let us see Santa. We don’t need pictures taken. We will be one moment. Please Brian please!”

(Who was I turning into? I was losing it for sure. Santa noticed me and motioned for my girls to come forward)

Santa was sweet and kind and understood that we did not want to wait for his potty break to be over to see him and that we would be super quick. My girls all got on his lap so cute and no tears. Shriek was in the middle of telling Santa she wanted a skateboard when I got up the nerve to push the button on my camera under Shout’s coat. I only dared to click once and could not wait to see what I had captured. You would of thought I was doing something a lot worse. Like I said I really am a rule follower and this was very nerve wracking for me!

A few steps outside of Santa’s quarters I smiled at Brandon and grabbed my camera to look at the photo. Here it is.

Serves me right huh? Completely blurry.

Who knows what kind of therapy my kids will have to go through when I am done with them. All because of a mothers love, and unwillingness to pay for over priced photo’s.

Have you ever done something scandalous and silly like this? I would Love to know!

*Name has been changed to protect the innocent.