Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Our second year visiting Santa was a success! This year’s Santa Paws photos were held at the new Bone & Biscuit location in Crossings in west Lethbridge.

Santa Paws 2018 Stats:

– Santa was visited by 41 dogs and 9 cats
– Santa’s hat was stolen once
– Santa was debearded twice (once by a dog and once by a cat)
– 458* bribery treats were administered
– there was only one floor accident
– one very brave pup got closer to Santa than last year

*totally made up number

Proceeds from the event went to support The Last Chance Cat Ranch.

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Floyd, Elaine, and their family invited me over during the Christmas weekend. They wanted some fun Christmas pyjama family photos before they headed to their ride on the Polar Express train! Each family wore a cute set of matching holiday PJs and festive hats. The kids were buzzing with Christmas excitement even though it was still a few days away and loved having a chance to play with their cousins and grandparents.

We started out the session in their home with some more classic portraits, and their beautiful red walls that we used as a backdrop really tied together the Christmas theme.

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I have been photographing Bob and Mieke’s family for nearly a decade now but haven’t seen them in a while as some of their children have moved away. This year they had everyone return come home for an early holiday celebration and called me over to the house to capture the event through indoor Lethbridge Christmas family photos. Some of the kids were much bigger since the last time I photographed the family, plus there were a bunch of new little faces! The cousins love spending time together while Mieke and Bob beam with pride over their grandchildren. Thank you for bringing me into your home and letting me capture your family’s memories after all these years!

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This year Santa and I teamed up with Pet Valu West Lethbridge for special Christmas photos with all kinds of pets! In addition to our usual dogs and handful of cats, this year we also had a hedgehog and a gecko. There was also an appearance by a few furry members of the RCMP! Thanks to everyone’s generous contributions, we raised nearly $400 for A Better Chance Animal Rescue!

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It was great to see Elora, Darby and Thomas again for their indoor family Christmas photos at their home in Lethbridge. This will be the last family session with just the three of them as they are welcoming baby number two into the house in a couple months. Thomas joked that not only have I documented their family growing, I have also documented his hair growing! I insisted he better have a waist length beard the next time they do family photos ;)

Elora was adorable in her pretty red dress, which looked so great against their Christmas tree. She was so tolerant of all the silly ways we were propping her up but when she did get fussy, a little bit of singing from her dad and cuddles from mom cheered her right back up.

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It means so much when families invite me into their homes during their limited reunion time together. The Major family had all of their children and grandchildren down in Lethbridge for the holidays and decided it was a great time to get some extended family Christmas photos. This family is hilarious and I loved all the goofy photos they wanted to do (each serious photo needed a goofy equivalent, of course!). Their interactions are so amazing and they really feed off each other’s creative energy.

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