today i elected to beat the holiday rush and take my little biscuit to have her photos taken with the jolly guy in the big red suit! poppy met the same exact santa last year and they really hit it off – we got tons of adorable photos with zero tears! i was a little worried about how poppy might react this year, given that i’d heard rumors of 1.5 years being the WORST age to try to get nice santa photos done; this suspicion was only confirmed as we stepped upto the photog! he asked her age and upon my answer of 19 months, explained to me that poppy’s age was what they call “the bullseye.” he said they would do all their best tricks to keep p happy and get some good shots, but that by his estimation only 1 in 100 kids her age DON’T cry during the shoot, and that only around 1 in 1,000 would actually smile. santa nodded solemnly in agreement and i realized they weren’t being facetious… GREAT.
luckily, i had solicited the help of poppy’s favorite cousin alex to come along and help – p like, BEYOND adores alex and he can always bring smiles and giggles out of her. i crossed my fingers as we approached santa in his chair. alex explained what toy’s he’d best like for christmas; poppy began clinging frantically to me and whine-crying. CRAP!!! luckily, the photog and the big guy knew just what to do – santa waved “bye bye” to poppy and told her he was leaving, then quickly hid behind the giant tree from the set. i put alex into the chair with poppy, and the photographer stooped down with toys & books to let poppy get used to his face. when p was calm, santa quietly came back and took his place behind the chair. the result?:
adorable, no? after a few shots with both kids together, alex climbed down and did some michael faltely-style dancing, which miss poppy completely loved:
OHMAHGAWH epic toddler santa photo WIN!!!
and that is exactly the reason why we refer to this photog company as “the magical santa people”. they are AMAZING – we absolutely will be returning to them every year in the forseeable future. the entire staff was SO pleased with poppy’s session – the photographer literally couldn’t remember his last 1.5 year old to actually smile for a shot! i’m so proud of my little nuggy, and also thrilled with the deal we got: a disk of high-resolution photos including EVERY shot taken, which i can print off and share as i please, plus i scored 20% off as part of an “early bird” special! less than $35 for unlimited santa & baby preciousness? you can’t go wrong! i can’t wait to print them out and send out my holiday cards. and if you live anywhere near the south hill mall in puyallup washington, you MUST take your kiddos to this santa! you won’t be disappointed!
can’t wait to see all my bloggy friends’ santa pictures as well! happy holidays, lovelies!
cheers!
Wow! That is an amazing deal. I paid $25 for 5 pictures and the ability to buy more prints of the same exact poorly colored shot. And Poppy looking up at Santa? I die.
Oh my word! Those are the cutest Santa photos! Wish we had those nice photog people here!!
oh for pete’s sake, the cute!
I love the one with poppy looking back at santa. Its such a cute moment.
The one where she’s looking at Santa should be the new ad for that Santa’s website. Like, LOOK! MOST ADORABLE CHILD EVER! LOVES OUR SANTA! BRING YOUR KIDS!!
We had great luck with Santa last year and then terrible terrible screaming tears with the Easter Bunny. So I’m hoping for at least one non-terrified Santa pic. Although I have to admit, the terrified Santa pics are pretty funny too.
Love these, Poppy is just too cute! And multiple shots? Our mall Santa charges an arm and a leg for one!
well crap. i had these big plans of driving up to the alderwood mall for santa pics because the santa there is dressed down. like real beard and all just with his coat off and a load blue shirt with polar bears on it, suspenders, and knee high striped socks but this is making me want to head south instead. i ALWAYS hear great things about south hills santa.
ok, and seriously these pictures are beyond adorable. im with everyone else that the one of her looking up at him is the cutest ever. so glad you all had such good luck!
yeeeeah. LOUD blue shirt. not load.
seriously too precious.
i love that last photo! great job poppy! (we’re going this weekend. wish us luck!)
aww! soo cute! poppy is gorgeous <3
Ohmygoodness…the picture of Poppy looking up at Santa needs to be submitted to some kind of contest, stat! So adorable. I’m kind of dreading our Santa trip this year. If M&L react to Santa the way I think they might, we’ll probably be getting lumps of coal in our stockings.
That is too cute, I am nervous about Ian’s up coming photo picture.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than all the other Santa w/ screaming kid on his lap I’m seeing on everybody elses’ blog. Too cute.
oh!! I love!! Such a brave little lady
Bresho HATED Santa… I mean, I can’t blame him, our Santa WAS pretty scary looking… even I was scared. I guess Santa sent his skinny twin to Toronto this year and decided to go check out the west coast.
Well, Poppy proved them wrong, huh? We’ll have to see if we can try some of those “tricks” next year when my little girl is just over 2…
She’s precious. That photo of her looking up at him is adorable!!
Visiting from Mandy’s link-up… that is SUCH a great idea to have the santa not actually sitting with the kid… sure wish our santa had done that! we did *not* have a santa pic success… check out post if you want to see a terrified 18-month old and a santa giving the stink-eye.
you totally made out like a bandit, emily!! not only did you get some killer shots of poppy with the santa man, but you got an amazing deal on the pictures, too! such a smart idea to bring poppy’s favorite cuz to the shoot, too. you’re so ahead of the game, mama! LOVE the results of “poppy vs. santa, year 2″.
WOW! I guess my 19 month old is 1 in a 1,000 and that is SOOO excitinggg. But I chalk it up to mannnny disneyland trips since 4 months old that she’s so used to big scary looking ‘people’ in or out of costumes
Walked right up and sat on his lap w/o me and Smilessss. These pics couldnt be cuter, those santa people have sure wised up in their tricks havent they?