Polar Express

Our short tradition is that every other year we'll take the kids to the Polar Express (in Williams, AZ) at Christmastime. You have to buy your tix a year in advance unless you want to go after Christmas fyi in case you're thinking you'd like to do this sometime. We went a couple Saturdays before Christmas & the kids had been super excited about it all week! On the train they give you a cookie & hot cocoa served by chefs, just like in the story. We also listened to a reading of the book & rode the train to the North Pole. At the North Pole the train turns around and suddenly Santa isn't outside waving anymore. He boards the train & comes & gives every child a bell (like the one the boy gets in the book). Ellie was hilarious! She saw Santa & started yelling Santa! Santa! really loud! Everyone around us was cracking up - she was a hoot! She yelled for Santa all the way till he got to us. Then she stopped yelling & said Hi Santa in this soft little voice. :) All the kids loved their bells. Ellie recognized Santa all Christmas season & anytime she'd see a pic of Santa or anything she'd say Santa. The Polar Express was definitely fun for the kids, but I was a little bugged about our seats. Last time we went we were seated 2 in front of the other 2. The way the seats are made you can flip the seat over so that the 2 rows face each other. It seems like if you call to buy 4 tickets you'd obviously want to sit together and be able to flip your seats around. Instead they sat us across the aisle from each other. I was actually extremely annoyed by it! I guess I'll remember next time I call to specify that we need our seats one in front of the other! I booked early enough that there were a billion seats available so I still dont' understand why they did that. The important thing is that the kids LOVED it!

Jack giving us his thumbs-up approval (he does this a lot - it's awesome!)

At the North Pole

Here are some treats I sent to the kids' classes. Santa Nutter Butters! I saw the idea online & they weren't too much work to make & the teachers both said they were a HUGE hit with the kids! :)