Santa Claus!

We did the big visit with Santa Claus this afternoon, and Peeper loved it, as usual.

For the first time, Shrike actually got to go with us, which was a very nice bonus. It also meant that we got some candid "behind the scenes" photos of Peeper just enjoying her visit with Santa, instead of posing, while I talking to the photographer-elf about which photos we wanted to buy.

Once again, I felt like a total stage mom, because although the first couple of shots were cute enough, they weren't cute enough for me, because I knew that those were cheesy fake smiles and not-quite-smiles, and that Peeper could do much better.

As with last year's photo session, the trick to the genuine smile was handing her a candy cane.

And then we started coaching her on the other poses we wanted. This is a reenactment of a photo that exists somewhere of Shrike with Santa at about the same age. We're hoping to find that one and frame them together.

And you can't beat this for adorable.