This is why Cider is the best. (Freckles (the strawboss formerly known as Genie) is also the best.)
Patches turned the scheduling office into Krampusland, lorded over by General Krampus himself
Shortcake did manage to accomplish one thing - she changed the roll of toilet paper! She had to rip open the box, figure out how to pop open the dispenser, put the roll on the pole, and close the dispenser. Success! The elves rejoiced!
Teddy Bear and Shortcake
Two sets of friends visited Santa today. Isla and Anderson have seen Santa many times before - Isla is used to going straight up to Santa. She declared she wanted a playhouse with a slide (Shortcake thinks), but it would have to stay in the garage in the winter. Anderson cried, but... He's that age. Maybe next year.
Aria is a seven-year-old boy who had just flown in from Pasadena. His grandma brought him to see Shortcake and Santa, but he was having a bad day. Aria was convinced that he had been bad over the last two days, and he just couldn't face Santa. Shortcake talked to him, told him Santa kept watch over the entire year, and two days was not enough to cancel out the whole year. He met Noel and Peppermint Stick, and they gave him a hug. But Aria was very upset and overwhelmed. Shortcake told him he could come back any time that day, or send a letter to Santa, and she would make sure he got it.
This is not Aria's letter, but a card from someone who wanted to say "HI SANTA" and also wished for love. We're not sure if his/her name is Princess Jasmine, or if he/she wants a Princess Jasmine.
Patches gave Shortcake a Believe pin (bling! all the bling!), and Santa gave her a Christmas headband.
(Cider wore his bling on a chain. It was very Christmas gangsta.)
Ruby and Jim had different kinds of bling
And then. Oh, the Christmas Eve drama, kiddies. And THEN. All of the computers went down in the Village. The computers are connected to the cameras. No pictures could be taken or saved. Freeze Frame ran out of the house muttering "oh no." And this happened at 2:30pm. On Christmas Eve. With a 3 hour line.
The line stopped. The village stopped. Everything stopped.
And then the computers were fixed. Everyone breathed.
And then they broke. Again. The tension in the village was palpable. Apparently, the line in the maze almost rioted.
Meanwhile Shortcake is trying to make sure Santa gets a wee break while maintaining the magic of Christmas.
Thankfully, Freeze Frame got the system back up around 3pm. And we got the line going, and all of Santaland has never worked so hard. Everyone, including the visitors, was focused on moving quickly and efficiently. We had a (growing) 3 hour line that closed in an hour and a store that closed in 3 hours. We knew we had to get them in and back out.
So we did. The last family entered the house at 6:03pm. Santa did his final walk to the roof to get in his sleigh a few minutes later.
Oh, and remember the person who was cranky on Tuesday? The person was still cranky. This person literally did not talk to Shortcake all day. This was fine - Cider took care of the person, but then Cider had to leave. And then it got real awkward. It's hard to do a good job with someone who isn't talking. The most frustrating part is how Shortcake reacted. She knew not to take it personally. She knew it wasn't her - White Flowers, elves, Ruby, even Santa, told her she was wonderful and generous and good at her job and had a sense of humor and efficient and all the good things. But. She let this person's behavior affect her behavior, when she knew she needed to be the bigger person, to respond with kindness. And, somehow, she couldn't.
Shortcake is going to try harder next year.
At the end of the day, Shortcake hugged everyone good-bye, declared "I love you," and wished them all a Merry Christmas.
And she headed out to meet her brother Dorkwad. They drank caramel apple spice lattes, walked 5th Avenue looking at window displays, and took selfies. Dorkwad, in fact, hated taking selfies. He wasn't terribly fond of the windows either. But that's what Christmas is. Doing what your older sister tells you to because she's family.
Also, let's be a little concerned that Shortcake was comfortable in a sleeveless top, outside, on Christmas Eve. In New York. Climate change is a thing, people. It's a thing, and we should be concerned about it.
The Lord & Taylor windows are always one of Shortcake's favorites.
Another hated selfie in front of the NYPL lion
Saks Fifth Avenue deep sea diver - again, they usually have nice windows. Shortcake and Dorkwad did not stay to watch the LED musical light display because, well, it was entirely too crowded.
They did take a selfie far away from the Rockefeller Center tree.
Shortcake has no idea what store this was, but it's a pretty zen garden.
Tiffany's windows are delicate and pretty.
Yeah, this is a repeat of the Bergdorf Goodman windows, but it's one of Shortcake's favorites, and it's so much easier to see how shiny it is when it's not raining.
And then they took the subway home to watch Miracle on 34th Street. Which Dorkwad ignored.
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