My yearly trip to the mall

I'm not a mall shopper. I don't like the crowds, and I hate to walk that far to park. OK, I'm a shopping wuss. But today I found myself back at Vista Ridge for our family's annual trek to see Santa. We've gone to visit the Vista Ridge Santa almost every year we've lived here. Our oldest is now 11 -- too old for this -- but he plays along for his 5-year-old sister.

The Vista Ridge Santa is younger than he used to be. Spoiler alert -- don't let your kids read this! I think they switched out Santas a couple of years ago. The old guy was there for many years. The last couple of years, I think, there's been a new Santa.

As soon as the kids got home from school, on this Monday afternoon, we rushed over to Vista Ridge to beat the Santa crowds. Not to worry at 4pm though -- no one else was there except the jolly old man himself and a couple of photo-taking elves. Hey, even Santa has his slow days around Christmastime!