I recently wrote about our Breakfast With Santa. The toddler would not get within two feet of Santa. I really don’t blame her; I never liked Santa when I was a child. I don’t like characters at all; I’ve been a character and I still don’t like characters.
Last year we got a picture of the family with Jessie hysterical while I held her behind Santa. My photographer friend did non-Santa Christmas shoots for all the families who didn’t get a picture with Santa at my moms’ groups Christmas party at Wiggly Play Center. Jessie wouldn’t go in the same room with him. I ended up with a picture of Jessie and Giggles in their Christmas dresses and me in a Christmas sweater.
When Jessie was one I sat in a rocking chair with a hysterical Jessie on my lap with Daddy beside me and Santa behind all of us. The picture hanging on our wall is the only one where she’s not screaming.
Knowing what I do about Jessie and her complete aversion to Santa, you’d think I wouldn’t push it. When I worked at Chuck E Cheese’s I tried to not make parents force their children at Chuck E. Now I’m a parent forcing my daughter to sit on Santa’s lap.
Santa’s Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops is beautiful, so I decided to take the girls there. I put them both in their Christmas dresses and headed off. Baby E went to Santa without protest. Jessie got hysterical and bit me. The girls took pictures separately because Santa was afraid of dropping the baby.
I took pics of the girls together outside by the pond. I took a picture of Jessie with a tall snowman inside. If she doesn’t want to do Santa next year, I won’t make her.