Photo shoot

I'm a glutton for punishment.

I took William to get his picture taken at Sears today. You know, right in the middle of the pre-Christmas rush. At an understaffed store. Because nothing says "happy holidays" like slogging through the freezing rain with your overdressed child and then repeatedly asking them to sit still (HA!) and smile for the camera.

I had this terrific idea that I'd have William sit for some portraits, and then I could give the finished products to my grandparents for Christmas. It was a good idea, right? You know, except for...everything that it takes to get a good portrait of a busy two-year-old at the busiest time of the year.

The poor girl working in the portrait studio was the only person on duty. She had to take all the photos, answer the phones, ring up customers' purchases, and help people who came in to pick up their orders. Halfway through our photo session, she had to stop taking pictures and leave the little studio to deal with the line of people forming behind the main counter. At least William was entertained by the motion-detector lights that kept flashing on and off as he darted around the studio.

A behind-the-scenes shot that I took while we were waiting:















After the photographer returned, she took a few more photos, but William was mostly over the whole thing by then. He smiled wonderfully, and he was extremely cheerful, but he was very wiggly by that time. After the wait to get into Bethlehem, it really didn't even seem like much of a delay to me, but I think William was ready to call it a day.

Fortunately for me, she got some good shots of him before the break. I was happy enough with those. And I was thinking about last year's holiday portrait session, during which William wailed pitifully for the first 30 minutes or so, so today's challenges seemed very small compared to that day's. He smiled when asked! It was a Christmas miracle!

So I took us both to McDonald's as a treat for surviving the photo shoot. Santa Claus is coming to town, and if he brings french fries, William and I will both be very content.