Baker Meets Santa (Twice) 2018

Well, well, well, Santa pictures, we meet again. If you remember last year, Santa pictures did not go in our favor. Unlike last year, this year I set my expectations very, very low but held out a little bit of hope that Baker wouldn’t be scared of Santa. We had been talking about him for days and she said she was excited to see him.

Well, she lied.

Just like last year, I went in alone (two years in a row and I’ve learned my lesson) and by the time we left, I felt like sitting in the corner and crying myself. Baker walked in with confidence and I was like “whew…we got this!” Then she hit the brakes hard as soon as she saw Santa sitting in his chair.

We tried everything we could think of just to get her near him- she wouldn’t even sit in his chair when he walked away. We even let her watch the next family to come in so she could see it wasn’t scary. And let me tell you, she had a ball watching the other kids take their pictures. She was laughing like a hyena at their mother, who was trying to get them to smile. They each got a candy cane for sitting on his lap and Baker decided she had to have one too!

She got up, snatched it like a bandit, and was done. So I threw her in Santa’s lap, tears and all.

And as we were leaving, she was happy as can be, giving smiles left and right.

Our photographer, Chase Todd, who is wonderful, patient, and so easy to work with, also does the Santa pictures for Baker’s preschool. He suggested sending her to school like normal on picture day and letting her go with her class. I agreed but after our experience in the studio, I had lost all hope and I was a little nervous for her teachers. So nervous in fact, that I apologized way in advance and even promised Starbucks to make up for the bad day they were fixing to have when my child saw Santa. All morning, I kept wondering how she was doing and if they were able to get her to cooperate.

And ya know what? Peer pressure works on two year olds. Ha! Chase’s wife, Ashley, sent me a text that said “No tears! All smiles!” I about fell out of my chair, y’all. If she hadn’t sent a picture, I wouldn’t have believed her.

Santa even says “Praise Jesus, she cooperated!”

If there is one thing Baker has taught me in her short life, it’s to just be okay with what you get. There is too much stress involved in trying to get that perfect shot (trust me on this!) but I am so thankful for experienced photographers (and experienced parents) who made the recommendation to send her to school for the pictures. While the first set of pictures would have been a good memory one day, I am so thankful to have these beautiful pictures of our girl and Santa. By the way, apparently she now loves Santa and according to Baker, he’s already come to our house and given her presents. They are bff’s now, y’all.