Under the Mistletoe and a Visit with Santa

I got our Christmas cards ordered tonight and I am so excited to get them and send them out! They are my favorites ones yet. I'm pretty sure that next year's card will be my new favorite after I make it but I digress. Dave is working tonight so I was on my own with trying to get the kids to stand still and smile. Dawson did wonderful... Ashlynn was a crazy girl! I managed to get some great pictures, though. I'll give you a little sneak peek...

And the best part about this picture? It's a totally candid moment. I was about to give up because Ashlynn would not sit still and then she said "hug" and gave Dawson a hug, and then said "kiss" and gave Dawson a kiss. I'm so glad that I still had the camera in my hand!! I missed the hug (on film anyway) but I captured this cute little kiss. I can't wait for everyone to see the other pictures I got. <3 (Oh, and these pictures were taken with our smaller lens, in manual mode!! I'm getting better! :) )

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to see Santa. I think it was the day before Thanksgiving. We usually don't take them that early but Shutterfly was having a great deal on their calendars (FREE, just had to pay $6 for shipping) and I like to include their Santa pic in the calendar so we hurried and took them. We might take them again for a little visit and just not pay for pictures this time. Ashlynn freaks out (in a good way) every time she sees Santa somewhere so I think if she was to visit him again she'd like it more this time around. She didn't dislike it when we took her, she was just a little scared. Dawson was, too!

This is Dawson's 5th visit with Santa and Ashlynn's 2nd. Dawson was only two months old the first time he saw Santa... Ashlynn was 11 months old the first time she saw him.  I love our little collection of Santa pics that I get to hang up every year. Next time I will be more prepared and will pick out their outfits in mid-November in case Shutterfly has another sale. *lol*