No Pictures with Santa. . .

We went to pay Santa Clause a visit the other day (at the mall). I had been telling Grace that she gets to sit on his lap and tell him what she wants for Christmas and she was excited about it. We got to the mall and walked in on the upper level that looks down on the Santa display. Grace ran over to the rail to take a peek down at everything. She turns around and says to me, "that's not Santa." I didn't quite know what to say. He was a great looking Santa with a real beard and all! I told her sometimes Santa has helpers to help him talk to all the kids but she wasn't buying it. So we went and had lunch, played a little, and then went to see Santa (hoping the break would help). We got to the front of the line and Grace halted, crossed her arms, and refused to budge, proclaiming, "that's not Santa!" The other moms in line were laughing (because of this strongly opinionated 4 year old that shouldn't even be noticing this stuff yet) but I didn't know what to do. I tried bribing that she wouldn't get the Polly Princess Castle if she didn't talk to him but that didn't bother her. So we left- no talking to Santa, no overpriced pictures. We resolved upon writing a the jolly guy a letter and we'll see what happens Christmas morning.