Santa 2011

You may recall from last year that our Santa visit wasn't all that successful. Actually that depends on who you ask because truth be told, there's nothing funnier cuter than a crying kid on Santa's lap shot. I was quite pleased with last year's result but don't tell Cooper that.

I thought for sure this year would be different (can you sense the foreshadowing?). Cooper couldn't get enough of talking about Santa, pointing out all the Santa decorations throughout the month and going down right bananas when he saw Santa in the Christmas Parade. He even had his speech down for what he was going to ask Santa for when he saw him: A scooter and a Thomas with a Snow Plow.

With all the Santa talk, I thought for sure we'd get a great photo. Jenny and I couldn't wait to take the boys to see the big guy and we decided earlier in the month that we'd wait until we were all in St. George so that the grand parents could enjoy all the fun and the boys could do it together.

When the big day arrived we prepped the boys and dressed them up in their Going to See Santa best. They were excited and all for it (or so I thought). Jenny got her shot. Two darling boys in matching sweaters soaking in all the Santa love. When it came time for our boys to sit with Santa, Cooper suddenly went blank. Santa? Who's that? I'm busy now. Can we go explore the rest of the mall? Didn't you say we needed to look for some picture frames? He wanted NOTHING to do with the man.

The picture below of Pete and Charlie was taken by yours truly. Before I noticed that "outside cameras weren't allowed on the Santa Set"......Ooooops...... I was THAT Mom that barged on set with her camera without reading the sign. I immediately put the camera away as soon as I noticed the sign. I would have to buy the Mack Daddy Photo Package if I wanted to get "my shot".

Cruz wasn't a big fan either. Before we realized that Cooper was going to completely ignore Santa, we put Cruz on Santa's lap. It didn't take long before he started crying. If I wanted "my shot" I'd have to hurry and convince Cooper to climb on board. Mind you, I'm all about crying kid shots but I'm not all about scarring them for life. I knew I had about a 20 second window before the innocent cries would turn into a future of NEVER wanting to see Santa (or anyone dressed in red) EVER again. So there we sat, Pete and Charlie happily eating their candy canes that Santa gave them and still grinning ear to ear over their experience. While Big C slips into nothing to see here mode and Little C is sitting all by his lonesome and crying on Santa's lap. One of Santa's helpers took a shot of Little C. I got half of "my shot". I politely declined while Mark rescued Cruz. I figured if we were going to have to buy the Mack Daddy Photo Package then by George (keeping it clean for the kids), I was going to have 2 miserable children in the shot. Not just one. It was a package deal.

Mark tried to console me as we walked away by joking that we could just photoshop our kids onto the "illegal" pictures I took of Jen and Ryan's kids. So that is exactly what I did.

These are for you, Mark.

Pete and Charlie

Coop 'n Cruz