Santa photos: laughter and tears and everything in between

Poor freaked-out Elisa had no sympathy from my bored daughter - Kristin Burns

On Sunday I took around 100 photos of children with Santa at our local park's holiday fundraiser. It was exhausting of course, but really fun too. A few things helped me enjoy the day:

• Hiring an assistant to handle the money & printing
• Buying a new portable printer
• Taking at least 2 shots per child 
• Keeping calm & positive when the inevitable tears came
• Allowing families to come back later when their kids were ready
• Photos of my daughter with Santa without braving the 2 hour line at Macy's 
• Friends stopping by with their children who were comfortable with me
  

Success! A slight smile - Kristin Burns

There were so many adorable babies and children who were excited, nervous, apathetic or terrified (sometimes all of these emotions wrapped up in one child!) when they first spotted Santa. It's hard to pick just a few, but here are some to brighten your day.

Santa had the patience of a saint. Saint Nick that is - Kristin Burns

Probably the best thing to come out of the day was meeting even more of my neighbors. I've already set up some photo shoots with a few families and I'm excited to keep expanding. After all, when I got on his lap, I did ask Santa for a successful 2010.