Every year the local library here has Santa come for a visit. Parents bring their kids and their cameras for a photo op with Santa. They also have activities at the other end of the library, such as coloring pictures, crafts, and games. I’m not sure how long they’ve been doing this, but this is the first time I took my daughter.

Last year, I had her pictures taken at Walmart with Santa. I sat her down in his lap and he talked calmly to her; she wasn’t quite two … almost. She gave Santa this look, as if to say, “Who the heck are you.” The woman taking the pictures had a hard time getting my daughter to look at the camera as she kept looking Santa up and down. I guess she was trying to figure him out. Santa then brought out a book, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ and started reading it to her. Her face lit up with a huge grin and he was an instant buddy. The photographer had instant success in taking pictures after that. Maybe we should’ve started with the book first.

Today, I had taken my daughter to the library to meet Santa, “again”. We stood in a very short line. I pointed at Santa and whispered to her, “Who is that?” “Claus,” she whispered back. She couldn’t say the Santa part just yet, but she could say Claus … close enough.

We stood there watching two little girls visit with Santa, one of them was smiling, while the other was screaming and crying; she looked to be five years old. I thought, “Oh great, my child is watching this and is probably going to thing Santa is scary.” Then I realized, she’s my child, she laughed at the scary guy trying to scare her at Halloween. He didn’t succeed and he thought that was just awesome!

Finally it was my daughter’s turn to visit with Santa. I brought her over to him and she said to him, “How you doin’?” He replied, “I’m doing just great. Would you like to sit on my lap and tell me what you want for Christmas?” I put her in his lap and she started to smile. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she babbled and then said truck, babbled some more and said ball. I was grinning from ear to ear.

The time came for me to snap a picture. She was too busy chatting with Santa, that I couldn’t get her attention to look at me and smile just for one picture. I was able to snap a few, those came out blurry, then finally she looked and waved and I snapped, awesome picture!