Santa, he's a bad one!

I contemplated if I should spend the money this year on professional Santa pictures, because they are really expensive, but I'm so glad I did for several reasons.

From beginning to ending, it was completely magical.

We arrived with a crying toddler, who didn't want to take pictures with Santa. He kept saying "Santa is a bad one!", and looking back at previous year, it is safe to say that Finn has never been a fan of Santa. I thought I would finally get my crying Santa picture, but once we got into the waiting room, we were greeted by an elf (the photographer's daughter, who is about 12 years old or so), who started a snowball fight with the boys. It didn't take long to turn Finn's anxiety about Santa around, and he was all smiles. When it was time to see the big man, Fox ran up to him immediately, while Finn stayed back with me, watching from a distance.

Fox told him that he wanted a Nintendo switch for Christmas, and him and Santa had a conversation about which model was the best.

Finn agreed to get somewhat close to him once the toys came out, and the kids had to help Santa test all of them to make sure they worked.

Finn was showing his "thumps up".

I was determined to get a picture of Finn alone with Santa as well, and Santa tried to bribe him with a candy cane.

After the session, the photographer told us to go find an elf in the gift shop (her son), who would give the boys a gold coin for an ice cream cone next door. Fox and the elf (who was hiding in the gift shop) had a long conversation about Minecraft, and it was almost impossible to convince Fox to leave.

Once we walked out, they had a snow machine set up, with Santa's sleigh in the front yard, where we could take our own pictures as well. We got our ice cream cones, and everyone was happy. But Finn still insisted on the way home, that he DOES NOT like Santa and DOES NOT want to see him again.

A few weeks after these sessions, we received the very horrible news that Santa had gotten Covid and was on a ventilator. Unfortunately he didn't make it, and I'm very heart broken about it. Santa was our photographer's dad and we had the pleasure of visiting him every year for Christmas since Fox was three years old. Christmas won't be the same without him, but I'm mostly devastated for Samantha, and her entire family, because they were all very close. Thank you Santa, for making each Christmas season in the past four years extra magical for my kids. You will be missed!

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