SEASONAL SNAPS
Close encounters with Santa
December 15, 2009
"Just sit him on Santa's lap, and back away slowly."
That's what the mall photographer told Jackie McGrath to do with her 11-month-old son Reid.
"At first he was smiling at me – for about 30 seconds," says McGrath, of Toronto, who had the picture taken in Ottawa while there visiting her parents. "Then he realized he wasn't sitting on my lap and he turned, and saw the beard. That freaked him out!"
"I said, `Just take it, just take it.' It's his real reaction," says McGrath, who was anxious to snatch Reid from St. Nick's lap as he let out "a full-blast scream."
Then she saw the picture – "I thought it was really cute and really funny! I thought that, one day, he'll think it's funny, too."
McGrath had postcard-style Christmas cards made, saying "Baby's first Christmas." "Someone emailed me and said, `This is the best Christmas card I've ever received.'"
Jane Van Der Voort
Toronto Star