Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

I have been a newspaper photographer for more than a decade now, and that means that I have shot my fair share of Santa Claus pictures. It gets tougher and tougher to get excited about the coming of good old St Nick each year. It certainly has lost the luster it had when I was a kid. My brother and I, laying in our bunk beds, talking about what we hoped Santa would bring us. Would I get the new Star Wars Millennium Falcon or the Atari 2600 I asked for? I actually did get the Millennium Falcon, but had to wait a few Christmases for the Atari 2600.

Now, I find my self thinking how many times we can possibly cover Santa Claus in the days from Thanksgiving to Christmas. We even have a running total on the door to our photo office at the paper. Some years, we just cut out all the Santa pictures that run in the paper and hang them on the door.

I know I titled this Merry Christmas and I am sounding a bit "Bah Humbug." In all honesty, I love Christmas. Each year, I procrastinate with my shopping and tell myself that the holiday is no big deal, but then a few days before the big event I get that feeling, sort of like Dr Seuss' Grinch... "And what happened then...? Well...in Who-ville they say/That the Grinch's small heart/Grew three sizes that day!" That is when I hit the stores and start buying stuff for my friends and family. Not that Christmas is just about gifts. I also start to feel like I should do more for those less fortunate, this is something I have to work on more.

We have a lot to be thankful for this Christmas at The Capital. As I wrote before, we received new Nikon D3's and we are getting a new photographer. These two things alone are excellent. Then there is the fact that I am off from now until the day after Christmas. This means that I don't have to shoot last minute shoppers at the mall. Usually it will be Christmas Eve and I will be on the night shift when an editor will just realize that they need art of last minute shoppers. It does not matter that there is no time booked for this assignment or they have not cleared me to shoot in any of the stores, just squeeze it in.

I am starting to sound sour again, sorry. It is great seeing the excited looks on the kids faces as Santa arrives and the look of horror on some of their faces as their parents try and put them on Santa's lap. Sometimes it's not easy being Santa.

To all who read this blog, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I look foward to capturing some great images next year and I am sure I will have plenty of stories for you.

Paul