Below for the pity-viewers, I have 2 sets of Skeeter Christmas pictures. The first set I had done and the second Skeeters parents did. MY plan was to start a tradition of helping the little guy make presents for his parents and grandparents. This year is was pictures I would have taken and "he" would decorate picture frames for them. I underestimated the difficulty level of my proposition.
I told B I was taking Skeeter to my office because "everyone" wanted to see him and instead we went to the MALL. Now, please realise I hate going to the mall, and I had never been to one with a 2 and a half year old before. Getting him into the store, past the bra department without fingering all the wares (oooh!), then past the jewelry (pretty!!!), up the escalator (whee!!!!) and then past a larger than needed display of Disn*y (Pooh! Pooh!) holiday merchandise right outside the portrait studio (product placement or demonic marketing?) was hell. The actual picture taking went fine as long as it was the "Holiday" set that looked like a living room, but once it was swapped for a black backdrop he became shy and scared, and suctioned to my thigh...so endth the photo shoot. What followed was an excruciating 45 minutes with a brand new employee who tried to up-sell me hundreds of dollars worth of "keepsakes" and "irreplaceable memories" while Skeeter was bonging around the room and trying to get back to the Disn*y display outside (the MOUSE, Yea-yea, the mouse.) Finally, I said "gimme those in 5 x 7's and that in wallets" and got the heck out of there. Flying past the Disn*y, down the escalator, rushing around the jewelry and bounding through the bras. Outside, so close to our goal the little bugger shouted "NO!" pulled his hand out of mine and tried to run away in the parking lot. HEART FAILURE. I nabbed him quick and took him home for a nap (for both of us.) Below are the results, worth it to be sure....but not to be repeated as a solo covert operation again...
There I was, smug with myself for providing such a priceless gift documenting his 2 year Christmas without a body count, when in the mail I received what? That's right, professional Christmas pictures of the whole family!! (What the @#$%^@%^%^@%@!!) Truly lovely and glad I have them, but crap there went the uniqueness of our/my surprise, kinda.....
The following are some of these pictures B sent me electronically, though she isn't in any of these. The two of Skeeter and his daddy are great.
Well, bye-bye. It's snowing very hard here and it's time to leave. Happy 2010 everyone!
