people in the north pole

last weekend, malia and i snuck out to the mall while micah was taking a nap. malia only likes shopping with me if she can get something out of it. this time her mission was to get me to buy her some frozen yogurt. of course she talks the whole time we are shopping. and i wanted to post something she said that was totally random. it's amazing how kids come up with such random stuff. this was our conversation as we were going out of macy's.

me: oh lia, santa's here in the mall. do you wanna go
say hi?

malia: YES!!! can i take a picture with him? please?

me: sorry, not today. your brother's not here. besides, it's kinda
expensive.

malia: aww, but i want to. and you have to pay, because you have to help the poor people in the north pole.

me: what?! what makes you think there are poor people in the north
pole?

malia: because it's cold.

me: okay, santa sees you, wave and say hi.

my sister wondered why i had to tell her it was expensive to take a picture with santa. well, the word expensive has been in both my kids vocabulary since they were 2 years old. they need to know we can't afford to do everything. i don't have a lot of money. apparently the people in the north pole don't either.

i'll just have to wait to tell her that people don't live in the north pole.