First Santa pic!

Well, here's Riley's first photo with Santa. We'd been preparing her for a day before... "What are you going to ask Santa for?" "What does Santa say?" She was pretty psyched to go see Santa.

We arrived at the mall just before 11. Santa was just leaving for a 5 minute break. I guess even Santa has to go potty. We walked right up to the front of the line, and then about 10-15 kids filed in behind us in about 2 minutes.

I kept my eye out for Mr. Kringle, and when he came down the escalator, I pointed him out so Riley could watch him. She watched and he came up to say hi. Then she got really nervous.

Santa sat down and we put Jackson in his arms. Riley didn't want to sit with Santa. We told Santa how Riley and Jackson had been really good, and Riley wanted a Dora game. Santa tried his best, but Riley wasn't having it. We got two pictures taken, and they both turned out like this one.

I'll give Santa credit though, he tried to get Riley up next to him, while smiling the whole time, just in case she calmed down for a nano-second so that his helpers could take the picture. He's a trooper, that Santa Claus.

Oh well, at least she wasn't screaming her head off when the picture was snapped.

Jodie kept talking about how Santa used to be free, and parents could take their own pictures. $20 or so for two 5x7s. "It's capitalism, honey," I explained. "Why shouldn't the malls make some money?" She just kept saying... "It's not fair. It used to be free."

Merry Christmas, everyone. Please have your Master Card or Visa ready.