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?
7 comments:
Love all the photos down through the years Simoney! :) The last ones are at the fairy grotto are just gorgeous and I love the last family one with Mr G where the background is blurry! The girls really want to do the whole Santa photo thing this year so we might just go along this time - Carys is confidently proclaiming she's not scared of Santa even though she freaked out at a giant Dora one year and was pretty scared by Ben 10 at an Easter show... we'll see.
My kids have had "Santa" issues too, but Mr 5 was ok last Christmas so I'm thinking it's all good with him now. Mr 2, still to check out his reaction this year, we'll see.........
Flip, my kids won't leave Santa alone!
Hehe - crack up photo at the bottom with Scrag crying!
My Miss 2 totally surprised me with her love for Santa this year... although she didn't have to sit on his knee!
Hey Simoney saw your rent-a daughter comment on Widges site..... I will rent your daughter for a week!! Would love a little girl here for a while in amongst these boys!!!
Not sure how much shipping and handling woudl be though..... ; (
Love all the photos...classic!!!
and by the way I could have sworn I saw Mr. G while I was ringing my bells yesterday!!!
Unfortunately no Santa photos here!! Year one and Bubble was 5 months, so we managed a mall photo. Last year NO WAY - even though it was Grandad and he had pressies. Of course Rangi was only 3 months so he just flopped into Santas arms. This year Bubble was so very keen, completely her idea so I got my hopes up. But once there an resounding NO was voiced, and Rangi sobbed.
But funny, as I sit her Bubble has just come up and said that we should go see Santa again and wants her photo taken...
Actually, it's not the kids that have a problem with Santa...it's me. I start howling the minute I see him due to the fact that he's let me down horribly. How did it come to pass that I'm the one doing all the shopping and he's the one getting all the credit? The kids just love him, write him letters and draw pictures to thank him for his benevolence. Me? I'm chopped liver. I'm just the exhausted hausfrau who's spent the last three hours trying to find clean clothes and matching shoes.
In the meantime, my hair is slapped to my head, I have coffee spilled down the front of my shirt and I have my least favourite pair of jeans on....and that's when Santa lowers the boom..."Hey kids...how about Mum gets in the photo?". Thanks, big guy...thanks a million.
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