Ichi, Ni, Santa

Sydney has had the pleasure of taking not one, but three (san) photos with Santa this season. It's nice that I can say it's a "pleasure" now. It took her three years, but she finally doesn't cry. Of course, she also finally gets that he'll bring her the toys she wants: a train (the power of my suggestion) and a pretty dress (her idea).

Sydney's first encounter with Santa this season was when we happened on Santa at the Navy Exchange and they printed out the photo on a demo printer. (Brian didn't want me to force Miranda to sit with Santa, so it was just Sydney. She smiled. But she wasn't wearing anything special.)

Then this is the second photo op, when Santa visited her preschool. Although she ran up to him and told him what she wanted, you'll notice she's not quite smiling...

...at least until she sees her sister screaming when placed on Santa's lap, at which point a sly little smirk slowly spreads across her face. Or maybe she was just happy Santa gave her that candy cane she's gripping for dear life.

Then the girls saw Santa again at the USNH children's Christmas party yesterday, in full (Christmas) dress. Sydney's much more amenable to Santa by now (her third and, I promise, final photo op this year). But despite the fact that I tried to get Miranda to warm up to Santa by taking her to see him twice, Miranda's even less amenable to Santa this time, as you can see.

Perhaps the third time she would've smiled, too. Either that or Santa would've dropped her.

But I suppose it's more of a family tradition not to smile at this age (I realize this also explains where Miranda got all her hair):

Sydney (13 months)
December 2006

Laura (4 years) and Diane (13 months),

December 1975