This year went so smoothly! I mean, there were a TON of people, but in terms of getting to sit on Santa’s lap, I think things went rather smoothly-I got a few laughs and I’m happy to report, we only had roughly 16 criers out of the roughly 200 kids. We did however have a few sleepers…..it was adorable! I am so incredibly grateful to be involved in this event every year. Not only do I get to see a lot of my clients each year, but each of you that bring a gift to for the toy drive are so incredibly generous AND let’s be honest, the staff is fantastic! One thing the public doesn’t know is that Chestnut Ridge doesn’t even do this to make a profit, they literally break even every year just to hold this event for the community. I know a lot of people have NO IDEA what goes on behind the scenes to make this event even happen, but I am blown away how everyone works together to make it successful each year. It’s grown so much over the many years I started to become involved. I remember shooting the photos the first year in the down stairs restaurant with roughly 30 people and all these years later there are roughly 400 people in attendance with another 300-400 on the waiting list….someone’s doing something right! Kudo’s to the staff! 🙂
So of course, had to pull out a few of my favorites from this past weekend. I usually do this the Monday after, and here it is on Wednesday-Man, I”m slacking! haha!
First up…the staff! They work their tails off for this event! Some of them you see out on the floor and some of them are behind the scenes!
I’ll call these photos: The Calm Before the Storm! haha! 
Get ready for some cuteness!!! The little girl on the right fell asleep! so stinkin cute! 
He wasn’t quite sure if he liked Santa so he handed him the list from afar! haha!
Checking over their lists! 
This one cracks me up…she didn’t sit on Santa’s lap and she couldn’t get out of there fast enough! 
This one is my all time favorite shot…..am I a horrible person because the crying ones are always my favorite! One is sleeping and one is crying! haha! 
That’s Miss Mallory in the left, man, she’s getting big! 
I mean, seriously….how cute!?
And if you follow me on Instagram (jenmcken) you may have already seen these shots! We ended up collecting over 125 toys for the toy drive. You guys have no idea how much this means to me! Having been on the receiving end of the toy drives grown up, you made my Christmas a little brighter. I know you never get to hear thank you from the people who get the gifts because often times they are anonymous…so on behalf of all the anonymous people who will be receiving them THANK YOU SO VERY VERY VERY MUCH! Mwuah!!!
And a big Congrats to Lyn and Matthew Black who won the free photo session! I can’t wait to work with you guys!!
