Santa Pictures

The big question in our house this year was what do we do about Santa pictures?  Not to sound like a grinch, but quite honestly I had no desire to take Phoebe to get pictures with Santa.  I'm not anti-Santa; frankly I just didn't want to pay for it.  Second of all, I didn't want to go to the mall and deal with the hassle and lines.  Third of all, we did get a Santa picture last year, so I was afraid that if I got one this year I would set a precedent of yearly Santa photos. I didn't want to feel obligated to shell out the cash and stand in line EVERY year to get pictures with Santa.  Is that bad?

Well every year our RUF group has a tacky Christmas sweater party.  This year was no exception.  However, this year one of the students dressed up as Santa AND he looked amazing.  Really, I think he looked better than the Santa we paid to get a picture with last year.  Another student dressed up as Mrs. Claus, and then a third student who is a photography major set-up a photo booth to take pictures with Mr. & Mrs. Claus!  Jackpot!

I was thrilled.  Phoebe, however, did not share in my excitement.  When we first got to the party, Phoebe had a pretty significant breakdown when she saw Santa.  I have never seen her so upset and clingy.  Poor girl was petrified.  At first she wouldn't even look at Santa but then when she finally did she wouldn't take her eyes off of him just to make sure he wasn't coming too close.  Even when Santa was out of the room it took her about 20 minutes to venture one step away from me.  Throughout the evening I kept trying to introduce her to Santa and have her wave or give him a high five while I was still holding her.  She wouldn't have anything to do with him.

So at that point I did what any loving and compassionate mother would do: I threw my petrified child into Santa's arms.  What?  You wouldn't have done the same thing?  Well you can judge me later.

I admit that I think these pictures are pretty hilarious.  Totally worth the trauma and the counseling we will have to pay for later in life.

I tried again one more time before we left...  The final picture was a little bit more successful.

She did a little better for pictures with Mama.

(please ignore the double chin)

Oh yeah, did I mention I dressed up as an elf?  I was feeling a little lame for not dressing up at the Halloween party.

You might not know this, Santa and the Mrs. don't like to talk about it a lot, but they have been struggling to have a baby for years.  I graciously agreed to surrogate a child for them.  Don't they look thrilled?


Did you get Santa pictures as a child?  If so, do you go back and look at them or have them all up somewhere?  If you have children do you take them to get take their picture with Santa every year?