Have Yourself a Multicultural Christmas

Today was an exciting day. 
Lilly was counting down the hours until she got to go see Santa. 
She couldn't wait to put on her pretty Christmas dress and new lace tights.  And she couldn't wait to introduce her little brother to Santa.
Needless to say I was excited too!  I couldn't wait to put both kids on Santa's lap!
As we were strolling through the mall we approached the Santa castle where a different kind of Santa sat waiting for us. 
We didn't know what to do. 
We were taken off guard.
So we kept walking.  All the while Lilly was shouting "WAIT...WE PASSED SANTA!  WAIT!!!  WAIT!!!" 
Then she said, "Wait a minute...that wasn't Santa." 
Then I was really stumped. 
Do I turn this into a learning time? 
But this was just supposed to be a fun Christmas outing!
Should we leave?  Go find a different Santa that looks like the one Lilly has in her mind? 
We decided to stay and sit on Santa's lap.
We told Lilly that he was one of Santa's Elves and would report to Santa.
That made her even more excited! 
But wait!  She couldn't tell him she knew he wasn't the real Santa! 
We had to tell her to "act" like he was the real Santa so she wouldn't hurt his feelings.  Lilly was more than willing to play along...and that got us out of an uncomfortable social situation.
So we turned back around and went back to Santa-land.
As we stood in line all eyes were on us. 
It was almost like people were wondering if we were trying to teach our kids some sort of multicultural lesson. 
In the end it turned out just fine.
We got a picture we will remember forever...Lilly sitting on a Santa-elf lap with her screaming little brother beside her.