December 2008 Embarassing Moment #1: Santa Picture

Well, we did the obligatory Santa Claus photo. I dressed Aili all cute, drove her to the mall, and we got lucky - there was no lineup! But as I was talking to the photographer lady, Aili got a bead on Santa over my shoulder, got a good grip on my clothes with her little fingers and started to tremble.
WHY is Santa Claus scary? I think most parents experience this challenge, but I have no idea why. I mean, he's a stranger, but are the outfit and the beard THAT much out of the ordinary?

Anyway, by the time we got anywhere near Santa there were tears, screeching, people turning around in the mall to see what all the racket was about, and a white-knuckled grip on my arm. There was NO WAY she was going anywhere near that man.
So..... as is often the story, I got to be in the picture too.

What's so embarassing, you ask? I look BIGGER THAN SANTA CLAUS. And no woman ever wants to look bigger than Santa Claus. I chalk it up to some combination of (1) a short, skinny Santa; (2) my rapidly expanding waistline; and (3) a funny camera angle.

So just to remind you, here is our Santa photo 2007:


And here, with some reluctance on my part, is our Santa photo 2008:
(Note the face of extreme distress on the part of the kid.)


I think I preferred the 2007 reaction better.