Last weekend we attempted to get a Santa photo of my kids, or as more commonly known, my 3 cheeky monkeys. We went on the Sunday - thinking it would be quieter - getting the kids dressed in some nice clothes and heading for the shops at opening time - anyone with small kids will tell you they're generally at their best first thing in the morning. I was worried about Missy Moo as she's afraid of most things and last year she howled during Santa photos and refused to sit on or anywhere near him. Stupidly I figured that Monkey Man and Little Miss would be fine as both are generally fearless. I didn't however factor in how tired they were from the busy days beforehand, or the wait time for Santa, or the horrendous mood Monkey Man had been in for the last couple of weeks. We waited about 20 mins for our turn with Santa, Monkey Man ran around destroying the place with hubby chasing him relentlessly, both girls were whinging in the pram so I was getting more frazzled by the minute. We finally got to our turn and Little Miss screamed and wouldn't go near Santa, Monkey Man also screamed but not only screamed, he decided then and there to throw an epic tanty including throwing himself around the bloody Santa sleigh. Santa was a moron who just stood there looking stupid, his helpers were asshats who stood and did nothing - their version of distracting the kids included ringing a bell once and squeaking some toy which resulted in more tears from 2 of my 3 children. The queue of people waiting is right in front of the set up so everyone was watching this car crash of an outing. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me there and then. I offered the kids so many things for just a few smiles including toys, donuts, milkshakes, nuggets, ice cream, lollipops but nothing helped and things were rapidly getting worse. We tried a different approach including me in the picture, then hubby in the picture, both of which were also epic fails, and honestly the whole thing was a disaster. On the only plus side Missy Moo not only talked to Santa but she sat on his lap! I couldn't believe it!! I looked at the pictures they took and they were all just horrible. Some were actually blurry which I don't understand - the camera is on a tripod? How?? Anyway, we left with no pictures, 3 screaming kids and 2 frazzled parents. Talk about a waste of time and effort. Hours later I was still fuming about what a waste of time it had been. There was a family in the queue in front of us with 7, yes 7, girls and they had dozens of photos to choose from as all 7 girls sat/stood up straight and smiled in each and every snap. WHAT THE!?!??!? I only have 3 kids! Why can't mine co-operate?? Ever??
Monday morning rolled around, my in-laws were staying with us and I decided we should try again. I figured a couple more adults would make things easier. Take two was alot easier, it was still a massive effort with tears, tantrums, bribery and asking Santa to vacate his own sleigh but we got a photo. It's not perfect, it's not what I wanted, their outfits don't match (don't judge me!) and my hubby is in it looking a little *ahem* simple but we got a bloody Santa photo for 2012. I won't go through it a third time this year to get a better pic . . . And I'm more than pleased we don't have to go through this ordeal again until next year.
and I had to get this one for future events like Little Miss' 21st . . . .check out Santa's face.
Such a happy chap he was. Dick!
