The Santa picture that almost wasn’t….

They say every picture tells a story…well these two pictures don’t quite tell the whole story…

We took the kids to see Santa last week. I had high hopes of getting a cute picture of the two of them together in Santa’s lap.  Hudson was so enamored with Santa at the Polar Express that I just knew this was going to go well.

We went during the week so it wouldn’t be too crowded and Trent came down to meet us during his lunchtime.  We got in the (small) line and waited our turn. Hudson was busting with excitement and we kept telling him he had to wait his turn. When our turn came up Trent put Harper in Santa’s arm and Santa reached out to Hudson.  Hudson had been running towards Santa with a huge smile and then suddenly something snapped. We still aren’t sure what happened, but at that point Hudson wanted NOTHING to do with Santa and in fact ran as fast as he could away from him (thank goodness my mom was also there to help and could run after him).  We had Harper’s picture taken and then we went to get Hudson.  He was still pretty upset. I chalked it up to him being two and also super tired (he had gotten up too early that morning). We went to eat some lunch and run a few errands in the mall.  As we were about to leave Miss Harper decided it was time to eat. While I sat down to feed her, Mom took Hudson for a stroll around the mall.  They went by Santa again and mom asked Hudson if he wanted to go talk to him. He said, no.  They kept walking. They came back around again and mom asked him again if he wanted to see him…this time it was a yes.  There was no line, so they marched up there and Hudson went right in his lap. According to mom he really chatted Santa up and then when they took his picture he was grinning in all of them.  A Christmas miracle indeed. Santa thanked him for coming back and told him he was such a good boy he could have two suckers (Santa knows they way to my boy’s heart).  Hudson eagerly took both suckers, but only after picking up the ones that had fallen on the floor and giving them back to Santa.  He has a bit of OCD in him (thanks to his dad).  :)  All in all, it was a success…just one that took a few hours. :)

And a flashback:

2009:

2008: