If only he could see one of her tantrums instead

I wasn't planning to take Lyra to visit Santa while Adriana was in school today, but I had to return something at the mall, and he waved to her when we walked by, and she wanted to go say hi. She was, conveniently, wearing a candy cane dress, and I started to think it might be a good photo op. There was no line, so she walked right up to him and did a little dance, then a somersault.

"What a talented young lady you are! Do you want to tell me what you'd like for Christmas?" he asked her, and she walked closer to him. He held out his hands to her, and she let him scoop her onto his lap.

"I want an owl," she told him.

"An owl?"

She nodded. "A toy one. And a rocket ship."

"A toy owl and a toy rocket ship."

"No, a real rocket ship. I am an astronaut but I don't have a rocket ship, so I need one."

He somehow talked her into considering waiting for a real rocket ship until she was a little bit bigger, and then she smiled for the camera. As I was paying for the photo (which I had to get as I've never had a kid actually sitting on Santa's lap and giving a genuine smile before) a few minutes later, I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Santa coming over talk to me.

"She's a charmer," he told me in a low voice. "Good luck with that one."