August 7th 2022
Chapter 219
Our Magic in Belief
Lucas remembered how surreal it had been, the first time the holidays had rolled around with him and Maya having a child, seeing Santa's Village pop up at the mall and thinking 'should we take her there?' Marianne had been a little over a month old at the time, so did it feel strange to think of putting her in a stranger's arms just for a picture? A little bit, truth be told, but at the same time, for their history with the place, they'd had to do it. The whole thing would have been perfect if Pappy Joe was still occupying the big chair, but he had been away from it for years, ever since his fall down the stairs. He'd donned the costume a few times in the years since, but really only for family events, an exception. The man who had taken his place, as they'd found out in time, was the son of a friend of his, one of Thomas Friar's old classmates, and knowing that, they sort of felt better at the prospect.
Plus, as Marianne had recently discovered, they had both played the part of mall elf in the past, and it felt like a rite of passage to then bring their girls around for their picture with the jolly man in red and white. So, they had a handful of photos and some of Marianne, through the years, on Santa's lap. Having seen more than their share of kids going through this experience, they had seen enough reactions to create their own categories, and their firstborn was easily on the smooth encounter track. She had not once cried or showed distress, only the opposite. Each time she'd been brought to sit on his knee, Marianne had met Santa with curiosity and enthusiasm.
When it had come to the triplets, they'd had a few more months in them before the holidays rolled around, but for how they had all started after their birth, and Maya still recovering at the time, if less so than in the beginning, they'd again hesitated about bringing them to the mall for the pictures. But again, they had relented, because eventually they'd had to recognize they were worrying too much, and they would regret not bringing them if they didn't. Oh, what a sight it had been, showing up with that triple stroller, the girls all in their holiday best…
Even back then, they had been sure that Lucy would be the one to freak out, to just be brought up there and cry her head off until they either managed to get her to calm down or have to settle with a picture where she was still in complete distress. Instead, both on that first year, being nearly four months old, and the one after that, at a year and some, Lucy had been a silent type. She'd just sat there the whole time, staring without a sound. Kacey, that first year, had just seen him and looked like she didn't understand exactly what was going on, but whatever it was, it made her happy. She had a goofy face going the entire time, and when she'd gone again the next year, it had been the same, but better. Oh, she was so happy to see Santa, and she kept trying to hug him, didn't want to leave…
And then there was Remy, Remy who they'd been sure would be most at ease, like her big sister. Except on the first year, by the time they made it up the line for their turn, she was asleep, and they'd struggled so much to get her to sleep earlier that they didn't dare wake her. So, her baby picture with Santa had her asleep; he'd pretended as though he was asleep, too, holding her. The next year, she'd been all cool as a cucumber going up the line, and then they'd brought her up there, and she'd seen the man… and she'd pitched a fit. In the picture, Lucas was sitting next to Santa, with Remy in his lap and clinging to him, a look of slight betrayal for having been put anywhere near the big, 'scary' man.
Now here they were again. It would be Marianne's seventh Christmas, her seventh trip to the mall Santa, and the first since she'd learned The Truth. There had never been any question as to whether or not she would go. Yes, she knew that Santa was just whichever man they got in the costume wherever they went… and whoever bought their presents for them… but her sisters didn't know that, and she wasn't about to blow it for them. It would be the triplets' third visit and, recalling how the previous years had gone for them… especially Remy… they were very curious to see how this one would go. She'd seen the parade and not freaked out, instead assumed that there was her great grandfather, so maybe it would be fine? It would also be Mackenzie's very first time and, seeing as she would be the oldest of their baby girls to have this first visit, at nearly eight months old, they were very intrigued to see how she would react.
"Hey, kit, come here," Lucas took a knee as he came to find the triplets doing what they did best when they were all dressed up and waiting to go: they were chasing each other around their room. It was even more exciting these days, with all the decorations. Remy heard him calling and dashed up at once. Oh, how she liked her dress. It was all soft and had a bit of sparkle to it… "You're going to be okay today?" Lucas asked her, drawing her attention away from where she had been feeling at the texture of her outfit. "With Santa? You don't have to be afraid, you know that, right?"
"Uh huh," Remy nodded.
"But it's also okay if you are, of course, and Mommy and I will be right there the whole time, yeah?" he reminded her, and she nodded again.
"S'okay, Daddy."
"Yeah? It's okay?" he asked, chuckling.
"Yeah! Gonna see Pappy Joe," she added, and he reined in the urge to smirk.
"You have to call him Santa though, okay?" he told her instead. If she wanted to believe that her great grandfather was up there, if it would make her feel better, then he wasn't about to burst that bubble. Even though he wasn't physically up there anymore, he had genuinely been Santa for a long time, so… it all balanced, as far as he was concerned.
"Okay, Daddy."
Finally, the minivan was loaded, and off they went. Driving to the mall these days provided plenty of material for awed little girls to stare at through the windows, and no one was bored or cranky. Marianne would sing along to the Christmas songs on the radio, and her little sisters would try and jump in with her if they knew – or believed they knew – the words. Mackenzie couldn't sing with them, no, but she'd be waving her hands about, or making noises like she knew exactly what she was supposed to do, and she wasn't about to be held back by the fact that she was a baby.
With five girls to see through their visits with the jolly man, they had set out to go as early as they could. When they arrived, the village wasn't open yet, and there were only a few families ahead of them already waiting in line. A couple of them they knew either through kindergarten and preschool or the afterschool program, so the wait went by easily enough for both the adults and the children.
"Mommy, it's itchy!" Kacey informed Maya, even as she was attempting to relieve that bothersome sensation, which came from the tights she wore that day. Going by the way Lucy kept twisting around and Remy was properly bent forward to scratch at her legs, they were having the same issue as she was.
"Is it that bad?" Maya asked them. "You were fine in the car, weren't you?" Maybe they had been, but now they weren't. Possibly, the fact that one of them had acknowledged it had then made the others do the same. Either way, there was no going back, so they had to act quickly. "I'll just take them to get their tights off, yeah?" she turned to Lucas, who was already digging through their bag. Contingency plans were their expertise by now, and he fished out three pairs of holiday socks to give to her. "We'll be back soon, okay?" Maya told Marianne, and Mackenzie, and Lucas, before ushering the trio of itchy girls toward the bathrooms.
"Remy's scratching her butt," Marianne giggled as she watched them go.
"Hey, when you gotta scratch, you gotta scratch," Lucas pointed out as he put the bag back under the stroller and turned the thing around, so Mackenzie would be facing them. "How about you, no issues?" he asked Marianne. Nope, all good. "How about you, Macaroon?" he gave her leg a little wiggle, and all she had to say on that was laughter. "Alright, then you're all good to meet Santa," he told her with appropriate excitement in his voice, and her response was a high pitched squeal as she raised her hand, making her look like she was enjoying a rollercoaster ride.
"She's so funny," Marianne laughed, crouching to kiss her baby sister's cheek.
"Yeah, wonder where she gets that from," Lucas smirked.
Maya made it back just in the nick of time for the girls to witness the arrival of their very own Santa Claus. The triplets looked infinitely jollier now that the pairs of offending stockings were dangling from their mother's hand instead of pulled on to their legs. They rejoined their father and sisters even as a door opened across the gate and the elves came into view, just ahead of 'the one and ho ho ho-nly,' as one of the elves – who was clearly very into her job – proclaimed. Maya and Lucas would have a lengthy debate later on over which part had been the funniest, between Marianne's trying so hard to act natural despite her all-knowing smile, or Lucy staring in her same quiet awe as in the past, or Kacey being all bouncy and excited at the sight of their Santa, or Remy's looking at her parents and pointing at the man like 'there's Pappy Joe, look!'
"Well, she didn't cry this time," Lucas noted, that evening, as they looked through all the photos. They had one each to the five girls, then one with Santa and the triplets all together, and one with Marianne and Mackenzie, and then one with the five girls all together.
"Yeah, but she's still looking at him like 'why aren't you saying it's you?'" Maya chuckled. "I swear, I thought she was going to try and yank his beard off, or his hat, or something."
"Oh, I saw her thinking about it, too," Lucas agreed.
In the grand tradition of first visits to 'the village,' Mackenzie Friar had been her usual funny self, so much so that, by the end of it, it felt less like she was visiting Santa and more like he was visiting her. She had him eating out of her hand, and by the time they took her away from him, he would say bye bye, and she would wave, and he would say it again, and she would do it again… She kept it going with him for as long as she could see him, and even after she couldn't, she'd seem to be trying to find him again for several minutes before her sisters distracted her.
"Imagine what it'll be like next year, with this one here…" Maya pondered, looking at herself, just about four months along. Lucas' hand came to rest at her belly, as it was prone to do. He was thinking about it, too.
"Next year, we should try and see if Ella can come along," he stated, and Maya smiled. It just wasn't the same, at times like these, when they didn't have their big girl with them, in group photos…
"We could always just go back again this year…" she suggested. One more picture, with all of them… "No tights this time," Maya added, and Lucas chuckled. No tights, definitely.
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
