A week or so before Christmas, during a photography lesson with one of my students, we stumbled upon several hundred drunk and giddy Santas wandering around Bryant Park.  I had completely forgotten that the gorgeous day we chose for our lesson was also the day of the annual SantaCon.  I scrapped my original lesson plan and turned our  meeting into an impromptu lesson on documentary photography.  We had a ridiculous time photographing all of the silly Santas milling about the park and the NY Public Library, and shook out heads when the cops came in their riot gear to try to restore order.  The NYPD was pretty cool, posing for photographs and just tossing the open containers, but we did happen to see one foolish Santa get arrested for being drunk out of his mind and refusing to throw away his brown bag.  All in all, it was a wonderful surprise to be caught in the middle of SantaCon with our cameras, and put us in the Christmas spirit!