According to the 101 Jill list, this is supposed to be 'Write a genuine apology to Santa for making him take photos with us. Address it to the North Pole and mail it.' However, I refuse to apologise for any of these beautiful memories with my bestie, so instead, for part one of this, I thought I would try to spark a new tradition for my niece Harper and her best friend Mayci. So, I paid for them to get a Santa photo and then took them to Timezone afterwards. Whether this tradition will take off, who's to say, but these girls have been best friends for nearly 10 years already! Pretty impressive since they both only recently turned 10 (they first met when they were 18mths old). I only hope their friendship continues to flourish and they continue to make fun and happy memories for many years to come. A big thank you to both my sister Sheree and Mayci's Mum Lis, for letting me borrow their daughters for this one and thank you to Lis and Mayci for also buying me a beautiful frame to display one of the photos in.
Part two of this, I thought I would share some behind the scenes memories of all of mine and Jill's photos throughout the years. Although some memories are a little bit fuzzy, I wanted to capture them now while I still remember and so I am able to look back every year. Every photo to me is priceless and is something I will treasure always.
1999
Where it all started...in all our prepubescence awkwardness. Jill's Mum Bron, took us to Rocky for a Xmas Shopping trip at the end of Grade 8. Jill and I went to different High School's, so that year was really the make or break for our friendship (spoiler alert - our friendship made it). While at Kmart Plaza (as it was then called) we noticed there was free Santa Photo set up there. We jumped at the opportunity to get a photo, and we said we would make it a tradition and get one every year. It was as simple as that.
2000
Don't recall too much about this photo, except it was still at Kmart Plaza and the photo had gone from free to $1. Jill also must have had her braces removed that year after having them for what must have been at least 3-4 years.
2001
The missing Santa photo! Jill and my cousin Kerri went to the same High School and ended up becoming friends. So, this year we did our little Rocky shopping trip as a trio, and again got out Santa photo at Kmart Plaza. I remember Jill and I were sitting on Santa's lap and Kerri sat on the floor in front. But to this day, I have never seen this photo. This is because this was the first year Jill was in charge of picking up the photo, and it was the first year they didn't do prints, but instead the photo was put onto a green floppy disc. Yes, a floppy disc! Jill did collect the floppy disc, but she never got around to sharing it with me, and at some point she misplaced it. We joked years later that the photo was jinxed anyway by us inviting Kerri into the picture. That is by no way to offend Kerri (who if she happens to read this - know we both love you), but had we of known how long our tradition would last, we probably wouldn't have invited any other person into our photo in those early years. We certainly did not invite anyone into our photos in the later years. I'm sure Kerri would understand that too. However, if that floppy disc turned up tomorrow, I would be so stoked to see the photo, but would now have to figure out how to get it off the floppy disc!
2002
No memories of this year but thankful that they started including the year in the photo because it definitely made it easier to keep track of the photos.
2003
My turn for braces. Photo was taken at Stockland (aka Shopping Fair). Both Jill and I weren't big fans of this photo, as we both were sitting very awkwardly. This was before the days where they would show you and let you choose or retake the photo.
2004
No real memories of this year. But did you know that Jill and I subconsciously had a side preference? Out of the 20 Santa photos that we got, Jill sat on Santa's right with myself on the left 14 times.
2005
No real memories of this year. Jill looks fabulous in this photo, not my finest look.
2006
Jill and I caught up over dinner back in 2018. While at dinner we started discussing how many photos we were up to. I reminded her of the floppy disc photo from 2001, but after reviewing the photos on FB, I was convinced that there must have been two years that we couldn't schedule a photo, as I could not find for a photo for 2006 or 2009. We must have agreed about 2009 (more on this soon), but she was adamant that we would not have let this happen for two years, and that she was going to go home that night and find the photo from 2006 to prove me wrong. She jokingly said "I bet you a lobster dinner I find it". I was convinced it did not happen and thought it was a safe bet. Well, I've never been happier to be proved wrong!!!
2007
No real memories of this one, but this was the year I found out Jill cheated on me! At her 21st Birthday party there was a photo slideshow and I saw a Santa photo she got with Anna & Tessa! I was (jokingly) outraged at the time. But I also cheated on her years later, when I got a Santa photo with my friend Brodie, so I guess we can call it even!
2008
Fairly certain this was at Yeppoon Central. Definitely wasn't a favourite of ours as again we were sitting very awkwardly and also my hair style! Another interesting, although not surprising observation of our photos is that, Jill mostly stuck with her signature look of dresses or skirts. At least 16 photos she wore a dress or a skirt.
2009
The photo that didn't happen. In August 2009, I threw a spanner in the works when I moved to the Gold Coast. Unfortunately, I could not get back home in time for our photo, and Jill obviously could not get to the GC. This meant we could not get a photo that year. One thing that really sucked about working in retail, was that it is very hard to get time off over Xmas. Looking back now, I'm actually really disappointed that we couldn't make it happen. But I guess as hard as we try, plans don't always work out. I do love that Jill's Mum was invested in our Santa photo in the message above, and that Jill mentioned photoshop which we would have to resort to in later years.
2010
Our first photo at Robina. I was working at Robina at the time and Jill came for a visit for the main purpose of getting our photo. We also had such a great night out on the town. I also remember as we were getting ready to go out, that Jill and I were both laughing that we had both recently discovered and started wearing spanks. She insisted on taking a photo of this. Thankfully I don't have and have never seen the spanks photo since!
2011
Another Robina photo. Jill was conveniently in Brisbane for Xmas and so she made a trip down to me and this was taken after I finished work. I know we both had a bit of a chuckle about how tiny this Santa was. This was also our last catch-up before she moved overseas to live in London.
2012
Yet another Robina photo. With Jill having moved to London, this was where our Santa photo scheduling started to get a little more trickier. Luckily though, she always came home for Xmas and we somehow always managed to make it work.
This Santa photo was done on a quick catch up on my lunch break where we also ran into these half naked boys in the centre, who were doing some end of school year dare (if I remember correctly). Of course Jill insisted we get a photo with them.
2013
This was one of our favourite photos and was taken at David Jones in Brisbane Mall. I just loved the set up as it was so different from all our other photos. Jill was once again back from London and was in Brisbane. I met her in Brisbane and we caught up over lunch. We also were very excited to be given these hats from Santa and we wore them proudly around the mall. Just two big kids!
2014
I was now living in Mackay and drove from Mackay to Rocky and back the same day for this one. I also remember having a migraine and vomiting after this photo in the Stocklands toilets. It was a very brief catch-up and I remember on the drive home that I could smell vomit, only to then realise there was some on my shirt. I messaged Jill to apologise if she smelt it on me when I hugged her goodbye, she said she didn't. Despite my nauseous state, this Santa was very excited to have two grown women having a photo with him. Probably doesn't help that we usually ask for Santa to bring us boyfriends!
You could also tell whether Jill liked a photo or not, as she tended to crop the ones she didn't like before posting them.
2015
Jill drove to Mackay from Yeppoon for this one. I had just found out that my contract with my work was ending due to the office being relocated to Rocky, so I was very concerned about watching my money. Jill being the great friend she was, was always so supportive and came to me that year, so I didn't have to spend money on fuel. It was a quick drive down one day and back the next for her, but I fully appreciated it.
2016
This was our most epic Santa photo. It was Jill's idea, obviously, and she didn't have to ask me twice.
Jill bought these suits from Kmart and cheekily returned them for a refund after our photo. We quickly changed into these in the bathrooms at Yeppoon Central and got many strange looks as we headed towards the Santa display. The photo was worth the stares. And although I'm not a huge fan of our normal photo below, I feel like the extra photo made up for our 2009 failure.
2017
Jill drove from Yeppoon to Mackay and back the same day for this one. I loved this outfit on her and I also love her hastag on her post.
This was before the shops had an online booking system and we waited 2 hours in the queue for our photo! To the point where we started messaging each other in the queue.
2018
The first year Jill returned from Tanzania. Since she flew all the way from Tanz, I thought it only right that I make the journey to Rocky. I love this dress Jill is wearing, one of the many beautiful dresses she had made in Dar es Salaam. I distinctly remember her walking towards me in the Stocklands with that Jill swagger (she had a very distinct walk) and a "Heyyyy Cassss!", which I can hear her say so clearly in my mind. This Santa was a bit dishevelled looking, but this and the following year's photo were the only two Santa's in all our photos that had real beards, which according to my niece is how to tell if they are the real deal! After our photo we did some shopping, Jill wondering the shops with her sunnies on looking like a rockstar, because the lights were a trigger for her migraines (migraines is unfortunately something we had in common). I also remember her buying lots of cans of tuna to take back to Tanz with her. We had more catchups over dinner that night.
2019
Our big 20-year photo! We wanted to do something special for this one and the 2016 one in the Santa suits was always going to be a hard one to top. I had heard that the previous year in Brisbane Mall, that they had a Santa photo session with Mrs Claus included, so I really had my heart set on that to make it a point of difference. But of course in 2019 they didn't have it. Instead, I found these cute little outfits on eBay and ordered them for us. This was a fun filled Christmas weekend, starting with us going to White Xmas at Movie World, where we at least got our Mrs Claus photo even if it was not quite what I had envisioned.
The following day I drove into Brisbane and booked a hotel for Jill and I to stay at. Jill was to meet me at the hotel before we got our photo. When Jill arrived at the hotel, I met her down in the lobby with apparently a very annoyed look on my face, because Jill later told me she thought I was mad at her because she was late (typical Jill). But I was mad because while I was getting ready, the zipper on my skirt broke! I greeted Jill with a "My fucking skirt has broken" which I think amused her to no end. It was a mad dash to the shops to get some safety pins and then a walk to Santa with my jacket wrapped around my skirt to hide it. In the queue, Jill stood close behind me so no one could see. But at least you couldn't tell in the photo, so it all worked out in the end. Ironically, it was Jill who was a bit nervous about her outfit fitting, because she was only able to try it on when she got back to Australia, but in the end the sizing was perfect, and she even liked the skirt so much that she wore it out that night when we attended a Xmas Pub Crawl together. It was the best fun filled Christmas weekend and the best way to celebrate our 20-year photo. Little did we know that this would be our last Christmas photo in person and I'm so grateful that our 20-year photo came just before COVID hit.
2020
COVID sucked for a lot of reasons, but one of those reasons was Jill could not get home for Xmas to be with her family and therefore we could not get our Santa photo. We were both pretty devastated about this, but we were determined to still do something. So, we came up with this little photoshop solution. It wasn't ideal but when life gives you lemons you make lemonade.
2021
Did I mention COVID sucked?! COVID, yet again prevented Jill from coming home for Xmas for a second year running. She did however, come home earlier that year in July and she visited me in Mackay after having to quarantine in a hotel and of course spending time with her family. It was very short notice, she messaged me on a Monday night, and she was here that Thursday and I managed to organise the day off work. It was another quick overnight visit, but we managed to still have some really good quality catchup time together. This would turn out to be the last time we would see each other in person, and I will be forever grateful that I got to see her then. If it had not been such short notice and, had we known at the time, that she would not have made it back for Xmas we definitely would have done a Santa photo even in July. Even it meant buying a Santa suit and making my Dad dress up in it, we would have done it! Instead, we were forced to do another photoshop one and used the photo we took when she visited.
2022
The photo that never was. 2022 was supposed to be our big reunion photo. Her flights were booked to come home for Xmas. She had a flight booked to Mackay and our Santa photo session was booked in for 21st December. We were excited. No one could have imagined what would follow. It was, and still is devastating that this vivacious, larger than life, beautiful girl, that brought joy to so many was taken from the world at such a young age. This photo was organised and gifted to me by a friend in her memory. I chose the photo because it was one of my favourites from a CQ Uni Community Christmas Ball we attended together in 2016. I can't bear the thought of getting a Santa photo with anyone else, so my Santa photo days are over, that spot will always be reserved for Jill. I have no doubt that our tradition would have kept going until we were little old ladies given the chance, but I will cherish the years that we did have together always.
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