Hmmm… how do you take a good photo of a child? I know, wait till they’ve been a bit overwhelmed by a packed shopping centre, a bit deafened by a show from an over-amplified Father Christmas, and waited in a queue for over an hour, and then take the photo. Fantastic results.
On Sunday we went back to where we used to live. After church we went to the big, older, shopping centre (as opposed to the big, newer, one that’s still being built, or the small, newer, one that’s mostly finished). They were having a Christmas Shopping Extravaganza – I refuse to call it a Christmas Extravaganza as it isn’t Advent yet (bah humbug) even though Christmas Shopping has already started.
To be down with the kids, they had science fiction characters walking / rolling about – a Tom Baker Dr. Who, Dalek, Cyberman, Tardis (who didn’t speak or move much), Chewbacca, Darth Vader and random alien with 3 heads. Some photos are on Flickr. You collected a stamp from each of them, and after at least 4 stamps you could visit Santa’s grotto. The queue for this was over an hour! They gave out the toys in the queue, which kept them amused for about 5 minutes – the boys chose a Spiderman pencil case and bits, and L got a book and a squidgy / stretchy green bat that she whirled around her head attempting to garotte anyone within range.
To give them their due, the children all stood the waiting very well, but an hour is a long time. At the far end (the thing we were all queuing for) was a photographer taking the children’s photos next to K9 and you got a colour print for free to turn the stamps thing into a Space Passport! Woo hoo! A managed to sit up OK and looked tiny next to K9.
The loud Santa Claus was off to be on the parade to the market square to turn on the lights, and the speaking children voted 2:1 to see this. Santa got a head start as we were still in the queue when he left, and so we just missed the parade by the time we got near the market. We decided to head them off by going to the market itself, and this was packed. I’m glad we were using slings rather than pushchairs as it was awful – lots of people, squashed in between market stalls, on cobbles, all trying to see the stage etc. We didn’t manage to lose J or K which was a relief. The local radio had some of their DJs chatting, an up-market boy band whose name escapes me crooned a bit, Santa was loud again and then we realised that the crowds were going to prevent the parade coming any closer, so once the lights had come on and everyone went Oooo! we headed back to the car.
The remedy for cold, tired, rained-on children was off course chips, so we stopped at a chippy and ate in the car. A had her first chips, which were well received. (No salt, vinegar, ketchup, mayonnaise, curry sauce, mushy peas etc. to worry about.)
Sounds, erm, far from festive really, but glad bits of it were enjoyed :).