Santa's gone commercial.

There are those little things, that in my opinion, go hand in hand with Christmas.  The smell of fresh cut Christmas trees & fresh baked cookies, the song "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire", sung by Nat King Cole, and of course the one thing that every child, and let's face it, every parent, looks forward to....a trip to see the Mall Santa.  Every family has their own way of answering that question, "Is the Mall Santa the REAL Santa?  Or is he a big faker?", but our family has always viewed him as one of the real Santa's helpers.  This opinion was formed after my oldest son noticed the varying degrees of authenticity of the Mall Santa's, and their "real beard" VS "fake beard", which is a dead giveaway for a child.  So, the day had finally arrived to go see Santa, and my children were over the top thrilled!  My 2 sisters and I decided to make it a family event, and meet at the mall, along with our parents, and all 8 of our combined children.  The store hosting Santa went all out with a little Christmas village, games, coloring station, remote control cars, and all the Christmas decor anyone could possibly imagine.  The thrill of meeting Santa was somewhat tarnished, when we got up to, what we soon discovered, was Santa's secretary, and learned we had to make an appointment to see Santa.  Well...OK, appointment it is!  So we took the "next available" appointment, which was in one hour.  We took the time to enjoy the activities at the Christmas village, and company of family.  When our appointment time finally came, the kids were completely ready, and had rehearsed several times, their Christmas list to give Santa.  Our rather large, and by now, somewhat unruly, group stood before Santa's throne, waiting for the big guy to appear.  Several of Santa's security team were milling about, with those ear microphones to communicate, to make sure the appropriate people were following the appointment schedule.   We really threw them off, when we asked if we could do a group photo of my parents with all of the grandchildren, in addition to the individual family photos with Santa. There was some strategic planning on the part of the security team, but they finally came up with a plan to accommodate this request.  One of Santa's posse finally came over to the kids, and started to prep them for Santa's arrival, by asking them if they were excited, if they had been good, and....."OH MY, did they hear the "thud" of Santa's arriving on the roof?!? "  And then, thru the door he came....SANTA!  This guy was the most authentic Santa I had ever seen, with his custom made suit, REAL beard and white hair, he could have easily passed for Santa's twin brother.  I always hold my breath for a few seconds when my kids see him, because that twinkle in their eye, could go either way at this point.  The twinkle could continue in their eyes, with the delight in seeing Santa, or it could turn into the glistening of tears, as the horror of this creepy stranger, who obviously wants to eat them, sends my kids into a panic attack.   This year was no different, and it was a split decision, with my older two boys being happy to see Santa, and the younger two boys......not so much.   We managed to get the whole group picture, as well as individual family pictures, with as little trauma as possible.  By now, it was time to feed the indians, who were pretty wild at this point.  Let me just say, taking a group of 8 wild indians to the food court is never a good idea.  Getting them to actually sit in the seats to eat is next to impossible, especially when there is an exceptionally slow waiter, and the charm of a carousel looms nearby.  We managed to feed the children, in the mix of them jumping up and down in the booths, a few walks to soothe cranky babies, and more than a few threats of torture from the parents.  The kids finally got their carousel  ride and they squeeled, and laughed like lunatics the whole time.  As I watched them on the carousel, I couldn't help notice the smell of fresh baked cookies from the food court cookie store, and the smell of fresh cut Christmas trees  in the air, that was obviously being piped in from some super sized Mall air freshening system.   Then I hear Nat King Cole's voice singing "Chestnuts, roasting on an open fire....Jack Frost nipping at your nose....". 
I had to laugh, because this was obviously NOT the Christmas of my youth.  It is, however, the Christmas of their youth.  Even though Christmas has become so commercial that even Santa has to have a secretary to make appointments for his visits, and a whole team of security handlers to keep the flow of things, they will always remember their visits with him, and remember the real beard VS the fake beard Santas.  They may get their memories of the scent of fresh baked cookies from home,  because we have a fake tree, they may only associate the smell of fresh cut Christmas trees with the Mall, and it being piped in for effect.  They will have memories of cousins, Grandparents, aunts & uncles, at family get-togethers, and at Mall's, and I can guarantee, at least one of those memories will be to triggered for them by the song about Chestnuts roasting on an open fire.  No matter how Christmas memories are made, rest assured, they are made, year after year, and our children will always remember and cherish them, and in vain, try to recreate them, in the lives of their own  children. 
In the words of my favorite Christmas song by Nat King Cole,....."It's been said, many times, many ways,....Merry Christmas, to you".