I really think it's a focus problem. The rest is just a distraction. (Apart from the noise introduced by shooting at ISO 800).
Here's some thing I just shot replicating your settings - it's unretouched and I used auto focus on Santa. The plant in the pot is 36" tall (which is what I guessed the height of yours to be - so that I could be roughly the same distance from the subject.
Exposure time: 4 seconds (you apparently had a lot better light than I to be able to shoot at 1/4?)
ISO 800
Focal Lenghth: 28mm (vs your 26...hard to nail it on a zoom)
AP
f/22
I also used a cheap, flimsy Suncoast tripod and the 12 second timer. So there's gonna be a little blur from that.
Also, cannot figure out how to get it to load here properly. Guess you'll have to turn your head 90 degrees.
