Getting the Family Picture taken; Going to see Santa

Getting the family picture taken is always a challenge. In years past, we have done our best to pick the best time for the pictures (before nap, after nap? before a meal, after a meal?) with modest success. Somehow, the pictures have always seemed to work, but we never understand how they do because Nick and Cara do not sit still. Now that we have unofficially given up on Cara taking a nap, that made it easier for us to schedule.


We made an appointment at 10:15am on a Sunday to get our picture taken at a local shopping mall. After church, we hurried to our car (no donut after church!) so we could make it to the mall in time for our appointment. When we arrived, the clerk told us that they forgot to write down our appointment in their book so they did not have any photographers available; but she offered many different appointments during the week (great - Pete has lots of free time)!

OK, fine, so we decided to go shopping. Not many stores open at 10:15am on Sunday. Then we noticed Santa would be at the mall at 11am. So Pete agreed to wait in line but we decided the kids would probably not want to stand still until 11am. Before we knew it, we were 2nd in line and about 30-40 people were behind us. It made us glad that Pete waited in line! Anyway, here is our Santa picture:

When we looked at the Santa pictures from other years, we realized that this years was different, not just because it the kids were older but because Santa looked different (we have taken almost every other Santa picture at a different mall with the same Santa).


By the way, we did go back for the family pictures - on a Thursday night - and they didn't turn out that well anyway.