They wanted a Santa photo with an Australian touch. Reggie the red kelpie knew how to make it happen.
It’s a seemingly simple yearly pilgrimage. Get the kids, get Santa, sit them next to each other and take a photo.
But as photographer Jade Dawson has shown, with young kids and sand in the mix, anything can happen.
Dawson organises annual ‘Santa on the beach’ photos through her Newcastle-based business, JadyBug Photography, to offer parents a Christmas photo with an Australian twist.
This year, she’s had her fair share of entertaining moments.
“I do get a fair few funny ones [photos],” she told Fairfax Media.
Many of these happened when children laid eyes on the sunglass-clad Santa and promptly lost it.
A series of photos shared by Dawson show a perfect summery scene: a driftwood Christmas tree, kids holding their younger siblings with a smile, and toddlers throwing tantrums with wild abandon.
Fortunately, many of the parents think the photos are a hilarious memento.
Ti’ana Meston told the Newcastle Herald her two-year-old son Clay cried for the second year in a row when he saw Santa for their photo at Redhead Beach.
This year, she sent in the family dog to comfort him, only to have the red kelpie make his mark on the photo shoot – and on the Christmas tree – when he lifted his leg.
She loved the picture so much she bought a canvas of it to display in their house.
Amanda Bunt, mother to two-year-old Charlie, offered a simple reason why some kids don’t like Santa.
“[Charlie] loves the idea of Santa, but he doesn’t like Santa in person,” she said.