This was not an easy task. Anders was not interested in the least to sit on a strange person's lap even if it was Santa. He cried in line several times and as any good mother would do, I bargained with him. Offering up a sucker, his red binky and chance to play at the other end of the mall, I at least kept him inside the roped off lanes. We waited for what seemed like forever. The kid ahead of us told Anders that he had a lot of "experience" (he was about 5) and that there was nothing to be afraid of. Anders persisted with his pleas to go home, go outside, and go potty because he was scared. I know he will be in therapy later in life because of my insistence that we get the santa-lap photo. But I can live with that, we got the shot! The santa was really nice to Anders and talked to him for a while convincing him to sit on his lap. (again, bad mom) I got really excited and jumped behind the photographer to get their attention and encourage smiles. Then it happened, Anders lost his resolve and burst into tears. I realized I was fanatical and needed to be slapped, so I rushed over there to give in and tell him that this was stupid, we could go home. But as I was getting there, Santa had his attention. He must have convinced him to be brave because he sat there, looked at the camera and stopped crying. Adele didn't flinch.
Later that night Will asked him about the event. Anders told him that a lady took his picture with a big camera. Will asked what he thought about Santa and Anders looked up, smiled and said, "Dad, Santa is a nice guy."
