In the last eight years we’ve spent Christmas in the Bahamas, the States, Thailand, Grenada, Mexico, Colombia, Mexico, the States, and now Mexico again. All this really means is that we’ve managed to a very great extent to spend the holidays with family in exotic locations without spending any time at all in a shopping mall.

The lack of time spent in shopping malls had one negative consequence this year though. We didn’t get a picture of the kids with Santa. So today we thought we’d better at least get a picture in front of the Christmas tree. I thought the reaction of the kids pretty well simulated what they would have been had they been sitting with Santa anyway.