Over the weekend, we battled the crowds and chaos to go to the mall and pick up “THE” Santa photo. As expected, I opened up the package and saw a very sullen face looking back at me. Santa was smiling, my son’s clothes looked nice, but my TBP’s face looked absolutely miserable. The past couple of days, I tried not to let it bother me. Who cares, right?!
I placed this year’s picture in the frame next to the others. Smiling and happy, Smiling and happy, and then bam…there it is NOT smiling and happy.
I tried to ignore it, but my son caught me looking at the photographic timeline.
“It’s okay, right?”
I couldn’t help myself…”Would you consider doing a retake?”
“Oh…I don’t know…”
“What if we went when it was during the day and it wasn’t crowded? We could try out the large candy canes again and I think if you remembered what to expect, that you would be more comfortable. What do you think?”
“Okay”
“You will?”
“Yes. I will try it again because I know it is important to you.”
At that point, I was feeling many feelings! I thought about hugging him and saying just forget it. It is fine. It tells a different story than other years, but that’s okay. I also felt relief because I really want a new picture and I experienced tremendous guilt for the same exact reason… I really want a new picture! I don’t want to give him the impression that he is “less than,” but I also know that parents every year take retakes of school pictures and probably don’t feel guilty…or do they?!
The plan is to go during the day this week. I will let you know how it goes…or if it even happens. Cross your fingers!
My Twice Baked Potato 
That is incredibly sweet of him to have such empathy for your feelings. Great kid!