Sushi, Santa & Sacked Out

Today, Iain had the day off of work, but has a big meeting to prepare for so he spent the bulk of the day in the sunroom (away from the Tornado) getting his work done.  Gianna and I were sequestered indoors due to consecutive days of crazy unseasonable thunderstorms and it seems as though the walls were closing in on us.  After Gianna's multiple attempts of unwrapping gifts under the tree - which she hasn't done until now, and following quite an impressive nap strike, we all decided we deserved a break and prepared to make a little trip to the mall. 

We figured we'd visit Santa and pay for a ridiculously overpriced photo (even though we just took FREE photos with a perfectly adequate Santa!)  Afterwards, we'd head to the food court and treat ourselves to sushi (we brought Gianna's food with us.)

Well, let me interrupt this little run-down with our loving history with Sushi.

Not long after we began dating, we became fond of, then addicted to sushi and sashimi.  It's an expensive little habit to keep up, so after we were married we decided to make our sushi nights special by having them on the 17th of each month.   We got engaged on the 17th and married on the 17th, so we figure it was a really nice way to celebrate our relationship.

Well, when Gianna joined our family, going out to a restaurant (especially a quiet one) was not exactly ideal for us (although she's usually quite good in restaurants.)  It was at this time we discovered the sushi place in the food court.  I know what you're thinking:  "Food court sushi?"  We thought that too, until we tried it.  It's actually great and it even rivals some of our favorite traditional sushi digs.  So WIN-WIN for us!  We enjoy a wonderful sushi dinner, Gianna is entertained by the masses of people traipsing by and we always make sure to situate ourselves right in from of the little Bunjee Jumping setup so she has a front row view of the bouncing kids.

Okay, back to the Santa visit.  We got there and no one was on line.  Yay.  Then she sees Santa and exclaims, "Ho, Ho, Ho!"  This is gonna be great. We walk up to Santa.  "Hi Santa."  She smiles - yes!  And then I put her on Santa's lap. I had a hard time letting go of her grip.  She looks at me with desparation and panic in her eyes and,

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

The child started screaming like she had just gotten her shots.  Great. Are you kidding me? She almost always goes to ANYONE happily and with great excitement - how can this be?  Why isn't she delighted to sit on this strange old man's lap who happens to be sporting a furry red coat with a strange hat to match, and has an unusually long beard and a reddish face typically seen on people who are REALLY mad or drunk. Oh. Never mind.

Crouched down in front of the camera I'm trying to console her from afar as she's lunging forward and pleading with ever ounce of her being.  I feel horribly guilty as I try to get her to smile.  The little Elf-Photographers are trying to do the same thing above me.  She stops crying. Thank goodness. And she actually manages to smile a few times. Heaven forbid they catch those on camera!  When I picked her up off Santa's lap, she turned around and looked at him and said, "Ho, Ho, Ho." She looked at me with a scolding face as if to say, "I hope you're happy."  Well, I am.  We got our picture and it wasn't so horrible. Even though the Elf-Photographer said upon viewing the proofs, "Well, this is the best one and they all go downhill from here."
(I thought of you the whole time, SDG!)

Look familiar?

Dang, I really could've photoshopped her in!

Also, the Community Band for the Salvation Army showed up to the mall to play live Christmas music - which was really quite wonderful. We let Gianna put a dollar in their music case. I was a little nervous that she might grab a handful of dollars and make a run for it, but she did just what she was supposed to.  All the musicians were so precious and she got a kick that they all waved to her.

So on our way home, she was carrying on a little bit, since she was so exhausted from her nap deficiency.  About ten minutes from the house, it got really quiet - and sure enough she was out.  At a red light we turned around to look at her and we both melted.  She was so adorable, asleep in her little bear coat.

When we got home Iain took this pic with his phone:

 Once we got home, we were sure she'd wake right up.  Not so.  We tried and tried but that baby bear was OUT.  I told Iain to lay her on the floor and maybe Max the puppy would wake her with his kisses.  Nope.
We prodded, we called loudly, we made noise....nothing.  Then there was nothing left to do but get the camera.....

Sacked Out.

I supposed that's what happens to busy little tornados when they finally run out of steam.