A Series of Santas

This season, we saw three different Santas at three different locations. I had so many cute holiday clothes that I wanted Cara's pictures in, that we had to make the rounds. Cara is at that perfect age where she HATES Santa. When we'd get close to him, she would put the death grip on me and start to cry immediately.

In a twisted way, I kind of like the screaming pictures, because it's like a rite of passage. At least they're more humorous than the normal smiling ones. I will be glad to get a lovely, sweet shot of her smiling on Santa's lap, but we'll wait 3-4 years until that happens.

The first Santa was at Christmas on 5th St. We've recapped that visit before, but let's look briefly again.

Definite freak-out moments...

Santa #2 was at Central National Bank here in Waco. This Santa was kind of gruff, but was professional and told us what to do to get a good picture. Unfortunately, Cara was still afraid of him, but calmed down when he wasn't touching her anymore.

 {"Are you still back there????"}

{Cara is whimpering, and Santa is having a jolly good laugh.}

Santa #3 was at the mall. We tried to go on a Sunday afternoon, and the line was a bajillion people long, so we abandoned the effort (despite having her all dressed up) and decided that she and I would go back Monday morning at 8 a.m. There was NO ONE at the mall at 8 a.m. except some workers, so we waited for Santa to arrive, and they spent a lot of time with us. She cried and clung, but eventually calmed down. We're nowhere near a smile, but at least there aren't giant tears. I've started a collection of these photos and buy a new frame each year to display. It will be fun to see how she changes over the years in these photos.

The 3rd time was finally the charm! Coming up, more Christmas celebrations and Cara's 16-month milestone!