Santa Train

It started with a train and this man:
(although I have my suspicions that there may have been more than one, man that is.)

This morning we travelled on the Santa Train. It is a normal train with an unusually high percentage of underage riders with the man in red and his entourage touring up and down the aisles. Of such things is Christmas Joy made. Here is Michael. He proved to be a little bit of a challenge this morning. Mainly because we struggled to find a coat for him that would fit over the cast. One of Daddy's fleece jackets did the trick and gave him full body coverage. As you can tell, he was just pleased as punch. He is getting pretty good at not letting the cast get in his way. I have had to start pulling him off of Josh when he tries to tackle his big brother. It will be a miracle if we make it 5 weeks without moving that bone out of place.

Nana came with us, too. That made the adult to child ratio 1:1 - just how we like it. Josh is always excited when a train is involved.

This was Ben's first train ride. He liked the train, but not the snow suit he had to wear in the cold early morning temps.

Last night we had a Polar Express party at our house to get psyched about the Santa Train. (Not that the kids really needed any encouragement to be excited about riding a train.) That meant lots of cookies, chex mix and bowls of candy goodies for people to put in their hot cocoa. Oh, and the movie The Polar Express. Nana bought the boys this movie a few years back and it is a huge hit every year. We had to start putting it away after Christmas or run the risk of Jason or I doing something drastic, like put it in the microwave or throwing it out of the car window. Don't get me wrong, it is a charming movie. Or at least, it is the first 30 times we watch it. I think we might make this party a yearly tradition - it was fun way to reintroduce a favorite Christmas movie and we had a lot of fun with food and friends.