Nice to meet you, Santa Claus

I have been preparing the girls to take a picture with Santa at our local mall.  We have been reading an Elmo and Santa book where Elmo sits on Santa's lap.  We visited the mall a couple times during the last few weeks and watched other children take pictures with Santa.  The girls were enthralled by all the holiday decor and babies and kids sitting on Santa's nap.  I thought for sure they were ready to sit on Santa's lap.  So, today, I took them to the mall.  As they skipped through the mall towards Santa's station, they seemed very excited.  Santa said he remembered them from last year.  As soon as we walked around the gate and stood in front of Santa, the girls stopped in their tracks and clung onto my legs for dear life.  As I edged closer to Santa's bench, that was our picture moment.  Even with help from Mrs. Fields' chocolate chip cookies, there was no way they were going to sit on Santa's lap.  

Here are two pictures: Santa 2007 and Santa 2008.