What is it about the Big Guy that freaks little kids out so bad? I mean, is it the booming "HO HO HO!" that does it or just the extra-long white facial hair??
We never had any luck with Mall Santa photos, right from when Dash was a little guy. The first Santa photo has Mr G practically sitting on Santa's knee with little baby Dash clinging to him looking blotchy-eyed after finally stopping his howling...
So the next year we invested in our own Santa suit, $20 at the Warehouse - bargain! By then the Miss Fab (a.k.a. Princess) had joined our wee family, so there were two toddlers ready for their smiley pics with Mr C (alias Mr G).It all turned to custard after that first booming "HO HO HO!" ... Miss Fab's bottom lip started to quiver and her face crumpled and turned red. The famous Air Raid Siren started up and no way was she going to sit on anyone's knee and smile! No way was she going anywhere near that freak with the white fluffy face! Even after Daddy dropped the voice and the beard, there were still shuddering sniffles and real tears moving southwards for some time.
The following year, we let the kids watch daddy get dressed into his Santa outfit. Surely then Miss Fab would sit on his knee? Nope. Even though she had witnessed firsthand the transformation from Daddy to Santa, she kept her distance until he removed the beard.
When Daddy has the Santa suit on it's like he has turned into a completely different person; the kids relate to him completely differently; speaking politely and referring to him as "santa" not "daddy"!
Santa photos were about to get sadder again...
Sure enough, the next year baby Scrag did the whole screaming crying thing as soon as he spotted the Bearded One. Dash and Miss Fab calmed him down and we managed to snap a few pics, which while not exactly happy, weren't tooooo miserable either.
This year we heard about the Enchanted Forest and Santa's House at Smith & Caughey's in the city... oooh, lets go and get a photo with the Store Santa this year!
The one-hour queues turned us back last Saturday. But yesterday we made another foray into the City; this time with some lovely friends. Thankfully the queues were indeed much shorter and The Enchanted Forest was indeed Magical. All those trees festooned with fairy lights; they seemed to go on forever. The kids wrote letters to Santa, we took lots of pics and then lined up again for our turn on Santa's knee...
Scrag stood gazing at the Big Guy while he watched his little friend have his turn. Scrag's friend cried and protested, but they did manage to get one good shot.
Our turn. All of a sudden I had a Limpet clinging onto me for dear life. The Limpet's eyes were round bowls of fear; his terrified screams echoing through the Enchanted Forest.
So here I am in the Santa Photo; Scrag is still terrified, even on my knee (such a pity because the Santa was a lovely old man). We'll have another go on Christmas Eve: my dad is going to dress up as Santa and knock on the door with the Christmas PJ's... maybe Scrag will smile for him??
Next year my little guy will be nearly three. So I am expecting that our Santa photo will not be so Sad in 2010 :)
How do your kids go with Santa photos?
