Santa and the Pink Pig

So last night we took Bryleigh to meet Santa and have her picture made and to ride the famous Pink Pig. Apparently, going to Macy’s and riding Priscilla the Pink Pig is an Atlanta Christmas tradition. We really weren’t sure what would be involved in that, but were pleasantly surprised. It’s a little pink train with a pig’s head they have set up in a tent in the parking deck. When you go around, Priscilla, a decidedly southern cartoon pig, tells a story about her holidays. It’s quite sweet. Despite being only four months old, Bryleigh really loved the Pink Pig ride. The conductor strapped her carseat into the train so that she would be facing me, and she just looked around and smiled so big the whole way! She loved all the bright colours and lights and sounds!

Now, as for Santa, she didn’t really have any kind of opinion. She was all smiles when we handed her over to him, and she smiled so much sitting in his lap, until they took the picture. Because there was literally not one person in line, they took about eight pictures for us, and the poor photographer, despite his best efforts, wasn’t able to catch one single smile! She never cried, but every time the photographer snapped the picture, she’d just be looking at something else or staring at the camera head on with a really blank look on her face. We ended up choosing one in which Santa looked down at her and she’s looking up at Santa in a kind of awe. It’s quite sweet actually, though I would have preferred she smiled and showed off those adorable dimples!

Tips for avoiding the Santa lines:

1. Go early in the year but not during opening week. We went on November 30th. They’ve already been open for a week.

2. Go on a random weeknight. We went on a Tuesday.

3. And here’s the kicker; go on a night when it’s really crappy weather! The night we chose had vicious thunderstorms all day long and threats of tornados that evening, but we went on ahead anyway because I just figured it would ensure fewer people. I parked in the Neiman Marcus parking deck so that I wouldn’t have to try and unload the stroller and Bryleigh in the pouring rain, and we were able to park immediately outside the doors and walk straight into the mall. When I was on my way out it occurred to me that I should be nervous about hooligans hanging the parking deck, but the only person I saw was a security guard in an SUV patrolling, and the guard slowed when he or she saw me and made sure I made it into my car and that my car started before driving off. Kudos to mall security!