A Wonderful Day

She wore a little black dress with blue swirling prints. The zipper on her hoochie boots made a fart noise which made us all giggle. The plan for the day included a little shopping and a visit with Santa. As soon as she heard about going out for Chinese food she ran circles around us yelling, "Chinese! Chinese!"

Earlier in the year I made her a sock monkey. I even gave it an embroidery tattoo that read "LL + JJ" circled by a heart. About 8 minutes before she arrived I quickly wrapped the little guy; I forgot that little kids like to rip open presents. She loved the sock monkey, hugged it and wouldn't put him down. A good name for the monkey eluded us.

Instead we headed off to "Chinese!" This little girl, I'll call her "L," is about as sweet as they come. Beautiful and loving. She talked about her daddy, an uncle that treats her like his own. She snuggled with her older cousin and happily played with her ice cream instead of eating it. We let her. What could it hurt?

The fortune cookies came and we each picked one out. You can't open the cookie that you pick, you have to give it to someone else. A fast-paced, laughter-filled game of hot potato ensued. We reviewed our fortunes, lucky numbers and word of the day. L's word: Zhu Pai, pork chop. The monkey got a new name.

After the food it was off to the mall to visit with Santa. Despite the long line she patiently waited, sometimes dancing with Pork Chop and saying hello to a little friend she knew from baseball. She danced and wiggled, patiently waiting with Pork Chop to see the Big Guy.

When L's turn came she danced over and sat next to him in a huge over-stuffed green chair. He asked her name and how old she was. L held up five fingers. Had she been good? Oh, yes. She gave him her list (short and simple). Santa shook her hand and she danced back to us.

"Did you give Santa a hug good-bye?" I asked. She gasped, ran back to Santa and tackled him with a huge hug. As we left I touched his arm and said, "Thank you, Santa, for all that you do." He smiled and patted my hand.

Shopping involved the dollar store. A scrub brush and some lotion for L's mama. While we shopped a young man came up to us.

"We watched her with Santa," he said. "She was wonderful, so happy." He couldn't help but smile.

L fell asleep in the back seat of the car on the way home, Pork Chop snuggled in her arms.

We had a wonderful day and, frankly, we can't stop smiling either.

Jet