“I think I just met the happiest person in the world!” Heather exclaimed sarcastically.

“I know, right?” I agreed softly, a little bit shaken from the interaction I had just had with the surly elf. I just wanted to get out of there though so I scooped Leo up into my arms and tried to catch up to Heather who was already huffing ahead of us with her daughter, Kathryn. Heather was never afraid to voice her opinion. Normally I loved that about her, but this was my first solo trip to the mall with Leo, and I needed things to remain calm.

“Mommy, why is that elf so angry?” Leo asked, his eyes rimmed with tears. I looked back over my shoulder and saw the teenaged boy shifting his fake ears around as he turned around to cut the next set of Santa photos apart. He looked up at us, still shooting daggers with his eyes. Seriously overkill, considering that Leo had only knocked over a few fake presents. You’d think he had tried to pull off Santa’s fake beard.

Despite my feelings, I quickly broke my gaze with the adolescent elf and looked down at the photo. At least Santa had been pleasant, I thought, trying to salvage the situation. The photo, taken moments before the incident showed Leo, who was wearing his elf pyjamas, looking up at Santa with awe in his eyes. He had told me that he had never been to see Santa before, and I wanted this to be a bonding moment between us.

“Why did he yell at me, mom?” This wasn’t how I wanted Leo to remember the day.

“Well, it is a busy time of year for elves,” I started, uncertain of what direction to take. Was I supposed to defend my new son or teach him? This was all so new to me.

“I’m sorry,” Heather cut in defensively, “but it’s not okay for an elf to yell at a 5 year old! I would report him.” I had taken Heather along to support me, as she has gone through the parenting thing three times already and is a trusted friend. I wasn’t, perhaps, accounting for our personality differences though. Heather had always been the more direct one.

“Well,” I said, trying to be reasonable, “Leo knocked over that stack of presents, and Santa had asked him not to play with them.”

“They weren’t even real presents,” Leo interjected, gaining a bit of confidence from Heather’s support. “Why would Santa have fake presents?”

“Well, those were probably just decorations, sweetie. The real presents would be at the North Pole.” I said, trying to maintain the myth of Santa.

“An elf shouldn’t yell at a kid,” Heather continued, outraged.

“No, he shouldn’t,” I agreed. “But I’m not going to report him. It’s probably hard to be working for minimum wage, and for all we know the kid’s parents are making him do the job.” I did remember something of what it was like to be a youth working for minimum wage, though I was still rattled by the manner in which he had yelled at Leo.

“Don’t elves like to make presents?” Kathryn asked, suddenly joining in. Kathryn, 8, was a bit older than Leo, and Heather had told me she was beginning to ask questions about Santa. I really didn’t want her to be asking these questions around Leo though. Not on our first one-on-one weekend.

“Yes, maybe that’s why he’s a bit upset to be here at the mall,” I hedged. “But Miss Heather’s right. He shouldn’t have yelled at you,” I continued, turning to Leo. There had to be some sort of balance between supporting my step-son and not escalating situations like this. Why wasn’t I better at this?

“Who would you report him to?” Leo asked Heather, apparently giving up on getting sympathy from me. “Santa?”

I shot her a look. The last thing I needed was for Heather to go back and yell at Santa. Fortunately a light seemed to go on in her eyes.

“Yes, Santa.” she said, carefully. “I guess Santa might be a bit too busy right now,” Heather said, changing tactics.

“You know he’s always watching us,” Kathryn added. “He must be able to see this conversation and already know what happened.” I wasn’t sure, but I think I detected a bit of sarcasm in her voice. She was definitely beginning to doubt the Santa narrative. I didn’t want that yet. Not for Leo. Not at 5. Not on our first weekend together.

Fortunately Leo didn’t seem to detect the sarcasm. “Yea. I don’t want to cause trouble for Santa this close to Christmas,” he agreed.

I gave a sigh of relief. How was I ever going to navigate being a step mom if I couldn’t even get through one weekend without destroying the myth of Santa?