TBT to the 80s: So Many Santa's Laps.

My siblings and our families spent this past Sunday at my dad's house, decorating for Christmas. We scurried around like elves, unearthing box after box of twinkle lights and garlands (so. many. garlands). My older sister and little brother and I played a super-mature game of jump rope:

Me, catching mad air before getting tangled in the lights. For the record, this would
NOT have been allowed under my mom's supervision. (With good reason.)

Later, we had pizza, and I snuck away and found as many old Santa pictures as I could in our family photo albums. I might have to do a more thorough search soon, because these are PRICELESS. Enjoy!

1979: Just my two oldest sisters. I had to include this one because Carrie, my sister on the left, looks EXACTLY like her one-and-a-half-year-old son does today! It's eerie.

1982: Three years later, two more girls, and a booger in a Carrie.

1984: The first year with all five of us!

1985: Loving Carrie's glasses and Mari's balloon shirt in this one. Also, I totally remember the shirt Steve is wearing!

198???: The next two pictures are a source of debate among the five of us siblings. As I write this, we are still texting back and forth to determine which picture comes first, and what years they were each taken. I THINK the first one is 1986 and the next one is 1987. We've been using infallible logical principles such as "missing teeth," "presence of earrings," and "Steve could be anywhere from two years old to four years old" to determine the year of each picture, but we're still not sure. I'll have to check the originals next time I go back to my dad's house!

Also, a bonus pic from 1987 (or 1986, or maybe even 1988?), which I'm including because: Stacy's eyes (classic), Carrie cuddling Steve's hand (awww), and Stacy and Carrie's super-awesome filthy Keds, push-down socks, and tight-rolled jeans. Also, my outfit (coat with geometric designs, leggings, and puffy boots) looks straight outta 2015. #FashionGameOnPoint 

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And now, leaping through time to the present! You'd think the quality of Santa pictures would increase in the thirty years between my childhood photos and my child's photos, buuuut...not so much.

Rowan's first visit to Santa ended up taking about an hour longer than I'd anticipated, and I was still very new to juggling a breast milk pumping schedule and a teeny-tiny infant. By the time we finally made it to the front of the Santa line, she was overdue for a nap (read: cranky), my boobs were ready to explode, and I just wanted to get out of there. So, naturally, the photographer forgot to use a flash, and we got this crappy shot:

He offered to retake it, but we - I - needed to GO. I'm pretty sure I cried in the car on the way home. Ah, hormones.

The next year, we went with Carrie and her family. Rowan wouldn't go anywhere near the man in red, though, so I ended up holding her. It cracks me up that all three GorgEffen boys have the same facial expression here:

And then there's our picture from this year. Rowan shocked me by agreeing to sit next to Santa, but her little cousin Emmett was more weary. I love that my nephew Fin is so psyched this time around!

I made J.J. sneak a picture of Rowan after the photographer had officially finished, only because that's when Rowan finally decided she would sit on Santa's lap. His secret shot turned out pretty cute! I love her tentative little smile:

Hope you enjoyed this Christmas-themed trip down memory lane. And get hyped...because I found some other treasures while I was at my parents' house this weekend...perfect for some future Throwback to Hell features! Mwah ha ha ha haaaa...

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