Here Comes Santa Claus, Here Comes Santa Claus...

... right down Santa Claus Lane... (Sing along now!)

I know ya'll know this song! Whelpers... all my kids do, even the older step-kids. It happens once a year. I actually get all of the kids (all 5 of them) together, no matter what the heck their schedules entail or where they might be. I get them all for just a little bit, depending on how long the line at the "Mall Santa" is...

This year, it was NO LINE! I couldn't believe it! AND... it was cute, simple and thank goodness they'd changed the decor! I haven't used my local mall in many years. Years ago, I had the kids' pics taken there, and the Santa suit was red (duh!), the candy-cane poles were mostly red (had a super thin white stripe in them), the chair that Santa sat in was red, and the backdrop was... you guessed it! RED!!!! So... you could barely see Mr. Claus in all of that redness. He looked like a ghostly apparition in the Sea of Red. And let's not forget that most "Christmas" frames have LOTS and LOTS of red in them, too. It was just too overwhelming and I swore I'd never go back.

But... as you may or may not have noticed, it is/was/has been raining here. So, since my step-kids were coming from Los Angeles, and my hubs had to drive them back (yes... they ARE adults - don't ask. It's a long story) in the rain and my steps had "other" things to do and had time constraints on them, "we" decided to go local and I prayed for a Christmas miracle.

First off, I looked and looked all over the frickin' Internet Universe for pics of the set-ups or samples of the Santa Photos at each mall in the surrounding cities. Did you know that while malls may post "information" (very limited, I might add) and possibly hours and NOT prices, they DO NOT have any pics of cute little kids sitting on the Jolly Old Elf? Nada. Nothing. Zilch! So... you/I am just going to have to trust that they have it coordinated better and that maybe some interior designer/set coordinator finally found their calling and fixed our local mall's set-up.  ZOMG! Are you serious? I have to have this super duper anxiety attack happen for what may/may not possibly be OK? Maybe I should take a pill NOW!

And so... we went. Got out of cars (in the RAIN!) and hustled the kids inside. The only ones in line were already getting their pics taken. Woohoo! AND! the set was a mixture of vibrant colors, surrounding Santa in his workshop. Super duper S-C-O-R-E!

The girl elf looked at us and said, "All of them are in the picture?" My reply? "Of course! They're ALL my kids! And they'll be doing this until the little one is 18!"  We took pics and ran out of there. Whoops! We were so quick, I forgot to wait for my pics to be printed, and so I went back... Eek! They had them all in a bag, waiting for me. Sometimes I'm such a dork!

Aren't they CUTE? And hey! so... the border's a little red (I picked a gold-ish frame this year!)

Oh! You're wondering about the adults taking the Santa pic? Yeah... um... I only ask for one picture the entire year. This is the least they can do. It's the closest thing I get to a "family" picture... and this year was the first time EVER that all of them (every single one of them) is actually looking at the right camera AND smiling.  Merry Christmas to me!