LEWISTON – Pauline Nota used to be able to entice her children to get their photographs taken with Santa Claus by promising to buy each of them a toy.

But that only worked for so long.

In the late 1970s, when her two oldest became teens, the only way she got them there was to wait until the end of the day when most of the stores on Lisbon Street were closed. That way, they had less of a chance of being spotted by one of their friends.

Nota was willing to go to all measures. She was obsessed.

The 63-year-old mother of three started collecting photos of her kids on Santa’s lap in 1965. She hasn’t missed a year yet.

“If I had skipped a year, it would have driven me crazy,” she said.

These days, the decision to keep the tradition going is out of her hands. It’s up to her kids – now 40, 37 and 26.

Three large frames hang on a wall at the entrance of her house. Each is lined with photographs of one, two or all three of her children sitting on Santa’s lap or standing at his side.

She has given the entire family the same instructions: “If there’s a fire, grab them first.”

Different coats

The first photo was taken in 1965 at Peck’s Department Store on Main Street. Her son, Scott, was 2 years old, and her daughter, Michelle, was only 2 months old.

The following February, Michelle died. The photo of her in Santa’s arms is one of the few that Nota and her husband, Joe, have.

Nota pledged to never let another year pass.

At first, her biggest challenge was making sure her three kids – Scott, Richelle and Carissa – wore a different coat each year so none of the photos looked the same. If she couldn’t afford to buy new coats, she borrowed them from her sister.

“That was no easy feat,” she said.

Later on, after Peck’s closed and Santa moved to Lisbon Street, coats were the least of Nota’s worries. It took all she had just to convince her kids to pose for the photos.

Biggest thrill’

Nota wasn’t afraid to guilt them into it.

“I had to say, Don’t you know it’s all your mother wants for Christmas?'” she said.

The 1977 photo shows her two oldest, Scott and Richelle, standing next to Santa with their hands in their pockets. Neither is smiling.

In 1983, Scott finally refused. He was 19 and he’d had enough. Luckily, Carissa was still a toddler.

Eventually, however, even Carissa outgrew the tradition.

In 2000, Nota was so sure she wasn’t getting a photo that she dragged her cousin to the Ames shopping center. The photo of the two middle-aged women standing on either side of Santa is now placed next to the one that Nota’s daughters sent her that year.

Two years later, Scott shocked his mother when he showed up in a Santa photo for the first time in nearly 20 years. He reappears again in 2003.

“I never thought he’d go back,” Nota said of her son, who is 6 feet tall and weighs more than 200 pounds. “It was the biggest thrill.”

As Christmas 2004 approached, Nota wondered, “Will I get one this year?” The third frame has an open spot in the bottom corner. It would kill her to leave it blank.

“Maybe this time, when they told me they weren’t doing it again, they really meant business,” she said. “But I hope not. I really hope not.”

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