Grumpy Old Santa Clause

I had a frustrating night and I think it deserves a blog post. Maybe it's just that time of the month but I think we are totally justified in our scrooge-like attitudes.
Tonight was the big night. .
Gabe's big depute for Santa Clause.
He has been practicing his lines all week.

me: "Is Santa mean or is he nice?"
Gabe: "Nice!"
Me: " What will he say to you?"
Gabe "Ho ho! Gabe want for Christmas? I will say Lot's of Cars!"

He is just this little ball of nervous energy all day. I can literally see his eye twitching.
We get dressed up in our red sweaters and best jeans, and off we go to Provo mall. We chose Provo because they have a small train that Gabe can ride.
At the first sign of the train and Santa Gabe begins to yell "Train! Santa Cwuase!" And for those of you who know Gabe, he can be herd over top everyone else in the mall. I try to predict how this will go. And in my mother-knows-everything voice I declare that we will ride the train first so that Gabe can stop twitching and sit peacefully on Santa's lap.
So we buy our ticket and hop on the train. We are the first ones on, and no one else is waiting in line. So we wait. The conductor, a lovely, seasonal, grateful dead worshiping 17 yr old tells us she will leave when the train is full. 20 minutes later, she starts the train with all 4 people on it and choo choo's down the track.
Mean while Hector stands in line for Santa. He is the last one in line and remains so until the train stops. Gabe and I exit our caboose, and head toward Hector, who is still the last one in line, and the next one to see Santa. Hooray!
Just as we get to Hector we turn to look at Santa, and he is half way down the hallway to the bathroom and the child size gate has been shut and locked.

We are standing there alone.

I call over to the Elf. "Excuse me? Where is Santa going?"
"Oh, a break. He will be back in 1 hour."
"But we are the ONLY ONES left for him to see. We have been waiting to see him."
Elf replies "No you haven't. You were riding the train."
??????? "WE WERE IN LINE!!! He can't see ONE more child before break? THE LAST ONE????"

Nope.

All you kids out there are lucky I did not strangle your beloved Santa Clause to night. And if there is one elf missing in the toy shop this summer, I dare you to point a finger.

As we walked away Gabe said "Grumpy old Santa Clause"
I kid you not.