Santa Claus is Coming to Town...

…Elena is none too impressed…again! If you remember last year, Elena did just fine until I stepped away for the photo, but at least we got a picture…this year? No amount of trying has resulted in a photo.

Our 1^st try was at the mall…we’d been talking about Santa for a few days & I’d told her about sitting on his lap for a photo. We arrived at the mall & I showed her Santa’s Village (He hadn’t arrived yet). I asked if she wanted to wait to see him, she said yes. Santa arrived in all his fan fair. Elena was precious! She was in awe! She sank to one knee & held my hand tightly, her mouth a big “O”. I asked her again if she wanted to wait to meet him, she said yes…we then waited FORTY-FIVE MINUTES!! My rambunctious kid waited patiently for 45 minutes watching everyone else have their turn, me chatting with her about when it would be her turn & asking her, “Are you going to sit on Santa’s lap?” her always answering yes.

Then it was our turn…I started to lead her toward Santa & she stopped dead & wouldn’t budge, waving her hand in true diva style…she was not having it! I was standing halfway between her & Santa & she wanted to come to me but was wary to get too close to Santa. She finally bolted & ran into my arms. As I was carrying her past Santa, telling her it was ok, she didn’t have to sit on his lap, Santa offered her a colouring book. She took that from him with a smile then insisted I keep moving! It was hilarious but at the same time, did we have to wait FORTY-FIVE MINUTES for this?!!? She could have just told me no right off, lol! So needless to say, no picture!

The most fun this season so far was my work’s Children’s Christmas Party…they really go all out…there was face painting, cookie decorating, crafts & each child gets a gift. They also had a photographer & yep, you guessed it, Santa Claus!!

Elena was intrigued & curious this time…she wouldn't get close to him but would hover near him…she spent a lot of time sitting on the floor watching everyone else get their photos. I let her be, hoping that she would warm up & we’d get a photo…this Santa was great too! When there was a lull of people he would try coaxing Elena over, chatting & joking with her, tempting her with his bells. I even went & stood with him talking, hoping she’d come over…no dice. This wasn’t a few minutes either; this was over the ENTIRE afternoon!! This is the best we got:

I love it of course since we don’t get all that many photos together…it was suggested afterward & I wish we’d thought of it then, but we should have had Santa sneak into the photo behind us though Elena did have an eagle eye on him so it probably wouldn’t have worked!

The best part of the day by far was the entertainer they had…Elena loved him & he was great at engaging the kids! Just look at the fun she had:

 Now keep in mind, that video was what? 30 seconds? She danced like that the whole 45 minutes he was up there!! Of course that was between quick runs over to see what Santa was doing!! She’d also do this hilarious dance where she’d bend over & put her hands on the floor then bounce her butt…hilarious!! It was such a great day!

So no Santa photos…oh well! I certainly wasn’t going to force her! Here are some of the photos from the shoot we did for our Christmas card:

 Last but not least, here are the photos we got on our vacation: