Who is this bearded man?

We don't have a very good track record with Santa. Katherine's first Christmas she was 10 months old. The first visit to Santa resulted in tears. You can see how scared she looks.
We went back later and she did better. She is not crying but she is not smiling either.
Last year Katherine was 22 months. We went to see Santa with her cousin Sophia. As you can see, she screamed. Another day we were in another mall where they had a rocking horse set up for kids just like Katherine. So, she had her photo with Santa without having to interact with him. We already went to see Santa once this year as a family. Katherine refused to sit on his lap. She would only sit on Sam's lap. It is a cute family pic that will be used for our Christmas card.

Today we met Amy, JG and Ava at the mall to participate in all of the Christmas festivities. We started with Santa's story time. Notice that it is the same Santa in the photo each year. He has been at the same mall for at least the last 20 years. I think he is the real deal. He arrived for story time through the chimney.
Next we went to see Scrooge. I remember seeing Scrooge at the mall when I was a child. I still can't figure out how he "sees" the audience and can interact with them so well. Really his whole show is making fun of the audience and is more geared to the adults. We missed the puppets because after lunch the toddlers needed a potty break.
Last we went back to see Santa. When we were there before we took a number so that we did not have to wait in line as long. You can see that Caroline did great.
When it was Katherine's turn to join Caroline she was very hesitant. I told her she did not have to sit on his lap, she just needed to stand by him. I even bribed her by telling her that if she sat on his lap and did not cry we would get an ice cream. I am a horrible mother.
Santa has a lot of experience with hesitant kids. After passing off Caroline he invited Katherine to stand on his stool to look at something. The next thing I know, he actually has her on his lap playing with a toy.
We never did get a smile, but I have a picture of Katherine, on Santa's lap NOT CRYING!