Normally I equate malls at holiday time with things like hemorrhoids and the Plague (white or black, your pick). However, this evening we decided to meet Alan and Val down at Phipps to hopefully let the kids visit Santa. We got there right about 5:15PM, and apparently Santa is a member of the Local Jolly Old Elves 403, because at 5 o'clock he was outta there. Luckily we caught him as he was walking away and he stopped and said "ho ho ho" to the twinkles. As I suspected they were not really sure what to make of him, but he was a swell Santa: his beard was fluffled and curled, and all white - no grey or yellowy blond at all. He had a lacy collar reminiscent of a Victorian Santa. It was rather neat.

We had even more fun riding the escalator! This is trip #2 out of about 10 total.



















This shot almost didn't turn out, but a turn of events helped a little boy's demeanor.














Thanks Alan and Val for meeting us at the mall!