Not-Mall Santa 2018
December 03, 2018
I think this is my favorite one yet.
The boys still aren't too old for our annual visit to Mall Santa, but when offered a Non-Mall Alternative Santa, you can bet your ass that Jason and I decided we were EXACTLY too old for Mall Santa, and went with a way less-stressful version.
Our (amazing and saintly patient) real estate agent threw a holiday party this weekend and invited Mr. Claus and a photographer for the kids. No lines, no shopping madness, just an incredibly patient Santa who probably learned more information about Titanic than he'll ever know what to do with.
(The Titanic even came with her own wish list. The Heart of the Ocean diamond and some lifeboats.)
The sweaters were Jason's idea this year, and he even braved not one, but two Target Hellscapes in order to procure all three of them. I had to go yesterday to fill a prescription and was like, FUCK THIS SHIT UNTIL 2019 HAVE YOU PEOPLE NOT HEARD OF THE INTERNET GAAAAAHHHHH oh DAMN 10% off Christmas wreaths I am DOWN.
Ah sooo cute! Also every time I see Noah these days I think, “what is that small MAN doing in this photo of the kids?!” I mean, how do you even?
Posted by: Chris | December 03, 2018 at 11:22 AM
Yay! We've never gone to a Mall Santa. We are blessed that our rural town has Santa at the library one Saturday morning in December. Our library is a small LOG CABIN, it is the most adorable, and for our small town it sure does the trick! No lines, no stress. It's a favorite holiday tradition. Sounds like your Santa visit was the same, and that's awesome.
Posted by: Amy | December 03, 2018 at 11:31 AM
Long time reader, super infrequent commenter here. Just popping on to comment about how awesome these pix are, how adorable Ezra is in his super comfortable and casual pose with Santa, and how happy these guys look. Fun!! DO NOT take this in any way but a sweet way, but sometimes in his glasses, E reminds me of.. someone... and I finally figured it out - something about a certain pose reminds me of Randy from Say Yes to the Dress - and I LIKE Randy a lot so it's a compliment.
Brave you for going OUT to get your Rx. Girl. That's hard shit in good times, let alone wacked out holiday/depression times. Props. Love you, Amy.
Posted by: Shawnessy | December 03, 2018 at 11:47 AM
The first thing I noticed was that Noah has on blue shoes. I remember his first Santa photo that you posted on here with the caption "blue shoes are neither festive nor matchy Jason Storch!" or something to that effect!
Posted by: Therese | December 03, 2018 at 11:49 AM
They all look so comfy sitting on Santa's lap. And grown! My lawd, the legs on those three.
Retail therapy, even for meds, is sometimes just what a girl needs.
Posted by: Sue W. | December 03, 2018 at 12:03 PM
Love your Santa photos every year, but these *are* great and you didn't have to go to the mall!! Hope you got a nice wreath at Target!
Posted by: flybigd | December 03, 2018 at 12:14 PM
❤️
Posted by: MJ | December 03, 2018 at 12:30 PM
Super gorgeous! Btw, I’ve been having trouble reaching amalah.com because of an “insecure connection” and I hope that’s not happening for anyone else. Thankfully my iPhone isn’t so paranoid and I can still come and visit you. 😊
Posted by: Amelia | December 03, 2018 at 01:47 PM
So darn cute! One year my parents had a santa come to their house and all the grandkids got to visit – it was such fun. I love looking back at the photos and remembering the awe on their little faces.
Posted by: Kate | December 03, 2018 at 02:16 PM
So sweet! I love that Santa is so patiently listening to Noah talk about Titanic stuff. Brings a little tear to my eye. :)
Posted by: Brandi | December 03, 2018 at 02:58 PM
I love these photos. Some of the best Christmas ones I think I've seen yet from your kiddos.
And Amelia, I'm also having an insecure connection pop up when I try to just go to amalah.com. I've gotten around it by putting in the www.
Posted by: Jaimy | December 03, 2018 at 03:06 PM
There’s still some weird migration issues from when Typepad moved from http to https. Some people fixed it with clearing their cache, deleting bookmarks and typing out the full url with https://blah blah.
Posted by: Amalah | December 03, 2018 at 08:07 PM
They are so cute. And I’m so glad they’re still up for Santa. I have three boys with a similar age spread, just a few years younger, and I’m already starting to feel a little panicky and sad about them outgrowing the fun Christmas kid stuff. Apparently I need to stop and take a breath. I hope you’re doing well and thank goodness for online shopping.
Posted by: Alison | December 03, 2018 at 08:50 PM
I love this year's picture! Yay for no mall santa (though the one at Montgomery Mall was freaking awesome back in the day)!
Posted by: Suzanne | December 03, 2018 at 09:53 PM
Regarding the previous, Ike post... I don't understand how he can have an IEP but you are getting nowhere with the school...? I have no experience with this, so is it the sort of situation where if you pester them, life st school might get worse not better? I myself would be tempted to be a real pain in their a** until it got put into action.
Hope it improves soon.
Posted by: Abesha1 | December 07, 2018 at 03:59 PM