This might just be the best Santa photo ever. Meet Luke (age 7), AJ (age 5), and Owen (age 2). These are 3 of my favorite little guys on earth.

To them, I am Auntie Joey, who they get to see only now and then as they live a few hours away. When they visit, they like to play our Wii, take their shirts off and wrestle, drink our chocolate milk, and raid our candy stash. To me, they are the most adorable extensions of my sister, Shelley, and her husband, Guy. I squeeze them tightly each time I am with them, and always get a little too sad when I have to say goodbye.

This photo was taken at the Macy's in Vancouver, WA, the day after Thanksgiving this year. You can see the boys were not so excited to sit on the big man's red lap. Luke looks like he is so over the big bearded man (or the Elf standing behind the camera). AJ was a bit leery, and asked Mom to talk to Santa on his behalf. And precious little Owen screamed the whole time on Santa's lap, only to jump off, turn around and wave a cheery, smiley "bye, bye!" as if they had just shared a plate of cookies together.

And I know, the malls get crazy, and the lines seem to get longer each year, but I so think this one photograph is definitely worth it. It made me giggle to no end, miss them even more, and while it may look a bit torturous for the boys, I think they will enjoy this moment a decade or so down the road. J

Also - Macys is doing some very cool stuff this year for kids and for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Click here to find out how a simple letter to Santa can make some dreams come true.