My dad is a photographer. I used to be a photographer (and of course I can still be one if I so chose…). So you’d think with cameras around all the time, Hannah would be the most photogenic little thing ever. Except she’s not. She never has been. I hardly have any photos of her smiling. The only way to get one is to have the person taking the photo pretty much hide in the bushes while Hannah goes about her business. As soon she sees that camera, the serious face, the frowny face, or the angry face comes out. Or the running legs, straight towards the camera in hopes of grabbing it.
Needless to say, getting a good Santa photo is pretty much impossible. Last year The Jess and I took her while Aaron was at work and we ended up having to sit with her in the photo. That of course, was kind of odd since Aaron wasn’t in the photo, so we had to go back and get one with Hannah and Aaron.
But now Hannah loves Santa. He features in a couple Mickey Mouse episodes, and even a Dora episode. I told Hannah we were going to see Santa, and that she’d get to sit with him, and tell him what she wants for Christmas. She was very excited. She was asking to go all morning.
Aaron carried her over to Santa’s sleigh, but there was no smile. No squeal of delight. No excited “Hi Santa!!” Nope, there was a frowny face, silence, a lot of staring, and about a foot between her and Santa.
On the other side of Santa, there was a little Daniel, sitting on his lap, ravenously hungry after waiting in the Santa line for half an hour. Fingers in mouth, eyes anywhere but the camera. Then the crying started. Seems babies really are ruled by their stomachs.
Before we got there, I had high hopes of getting the perfect Santa photo.
But instead, it looked like this:
Maybe if Santa wasn’t just sitting there, with his blank stare and unmoving body. I remember sitting on Santa’s lap when I was little. He always asked me what I wanted for Christmas, showed lots of enthusiasm and then gave me a candy cane at the end.
A couple days later we decided to try again, since I didn’t have a decent photo to buy the first time.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I don’t want to see Santa!!!!” Hannah screamed. She was not impressed.
The moment her bottom hit that squishy seat next to Santa, her face crinkled up, tears poured from her eyes. She stood up and held out her little arms, screaming for me to come and get her.
Daniel was in a good mood. His belly was full, he’d had a good nap. He was smiling like a trooper. So in the end, this is what we ended up with:
Which is great, if we only had one child. Oh well, it’s better than nothing.
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Mommy Adventures 