Aubrey and Santa 2009

Last night we were at Bass Pro Shop doing some last minute Christmas shopping. We noticed that they were offering free pictures with Santa. Now, let me preface this by saying that we are not "doing Santa" with Aubrey. Now you can all gasp and think we are the biggest spoil sports in the land :) David and I don't think Santa is horribly wicked or anything, we are just choosing not to do him in our family. We want to be sure that we keep Jesus the focus of Christmas in our house. I'm not saying this isn't possible if you do Santa, we would just rather not even have to worry about that becoming an issue with our kids. My parents did Santa with me when I was little, but they didn't do him with my younger brothers, and I don't think that their Christmases were any less "magical" than mine were as a child. We are going to encourage our children to use their imaginations, and we're all about letting kids be kids. We just don't feel like Santa is necessary for this. But if you do Santa in your family, by all means, have fun with it! :)

Anyway, now that all that's out of the way... when I heard they were doing Santa pics last night, I just had to have one with Aubrey! We stood in line forever. (Which was really surprising to me -- it was like 8:30 PM. I thought I would be the only crazy person with my child out that late. But no.) Aubrey was in a GREAT mood while we stood in line and kept everyone around us entertained with her fabulous sticking her tongue in and out of her mouth while making loud noises skills. I really started to think these pictures were going to be a huge success.

When it was our turn, Aubrey took one look at Santa and lunged right toward his beard. Her little hand was poised and ready to grab and handful and yank. Luckily for Santa, I managed to prevent that. I sat Aubrey in Santa's lap, stepped back, and this is what we got:Cute huh? It's actually pretty pitiful. David thinks this is so weird of me to say, but I'm really not disappointed that she screamed. I feel like everyone needs at least one screaming in Santa's lap picture. It's just classic.

Since the first attempt was a little rough, Santa invited David and me to join in on the fun and have a seat on his knees. Of course we couldn't say no to Santa!Look at that free family fun! If I look a little uncomfortable, it's because I was basically squatting over Santa's knee. I didn't want to injure the poor old man. My face is saying, "Please hurry up and take the darn picture -- my thighs are burning!" :) All in all, I would declare Aubrey's first Santa picture a success.