A Christmas Surprise

Last year, we surprised the kids with a trip on the Polar Express. We paid a little extra to become members of the railroad in order to avoid the lottery and buy tickets in advance. This year we decided just to take our chances with the lottery. Then, in early November, we realized that we had forgotten all about the lottery and had missed our chance to purchase tickets. However, out of curiosity, Josh went online to read about it and discovered that we could still get seats on weeknights in early December. We excitedly bought the tickets for December first and began planning for the kids' surprise.

On Tuesday, I let Becca and Ben stay in their pajamas all day and then convinced them that they needed to change into clean pajamas to pick Hannah up at school. We drove through the pick-up line, and I told Hannah that today was "Jammie Day," and she could change into her pajamas as soon as she got home from school. Josh was supposed to come home at 4:00, but he got tied up on a phone call. "Uh, oh," I told the kids, "I was going to go get dinner after Daddy came home, but he's going to be late, so I'm going to have to bring you all in your jammies." I took them all through the drive-thru at McDonald's just as Josh came home from work. When we got back to the house, I called Josh on the cell phone to "convince" him to come drive around with us to look at Christmas lights. He finally agreed, and we began our drive to Cleveland for the train ride, pointing out lights along the highway as we drove. The kids began whining to use the bathroom about 10 minutes from the station, so we told them we were driving to a place where we knew there would be restrooms. As we pulled into the station, Hannah noticed the sign and started screaming in excitement, "It's the Polar Express! We're going on the Polar Express!"

We really enjoyed the train ride, just like last year. We got seats in the dome car this time, so we were a bit more comfortable, and the windows extended across the ceiling as well as the sides, which gave us a lovely view of the full moon as we rode. The kids snuggled up in their blankets in the beginning, while an elf read The Polar Express over the loudspeaker and we followed along in our copy of the book.

Once the train picked up a little speed, the elves brought around hot chocolate (at a much more drinkable temperature than last year) and delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Finally, we reached the "North Pole." The elves handed out paper towels for the kids to wipe the condensation off of the windows as the train slowly moved into the station, full of lights and actors dressed as elves and Christmas characters.

After about fifteen minutes, the train began moving back along the tracks towards the first station.

To help pass the time, the elves led Christmas carols, which Hannah enjoyed very much.

Santa also came around and gave each kid a souvenir sleigh bell to bring home, pausing to autograph our The Polar Express book as well.

Ben mostly just stared out the window, and Becca alternated between snuggling on my lap and bouncing off the walls!

We arrived at the station a little after 9:00pm, and began the long journey home. Becca slept, but Hannah and Ben somehow stayed awake for the whole car ride. Sleepily, the kids trudged up the steps into the house, where they saw our Polar Express train set, which Josh had put together in the living room while the kids and I were out getting dinner. After a few minutes of playing with the train, the kids finally crashed in their beds around midnight! Needless to say, Hannah slept in instead of going to school on Wednesday, but we all enjoyed having a wonderful surprise family outing to kick off our Christmas celebration this year.

That's the Way it Happens...

... on the Polar Express!!

We were able to successfully pull off one of the best Christmas surprises ever! Since June, we have been planning to take the kids on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad's version of the Polar Express. All three kids are obsessed with the movie, and watching it together is the first sign that the Christmas season has arrived. We have to force them to wait until after Thanksgiving to watch it the first time. This year, they learned to sing the song, "When Christmas Comes to Town." Even Becca knows all of the words!

The day of our train ride, we dressed them in their pajamas around 4:00 in the afternoon and began the long drive to Cleveland, stopping only to get dinner and take a quick bathroom break. The kids eyes lit up when we got there and they saw the sign for the train. The weather was frigid, and they had a hard time waiting to board the train, but once they were on board, they loved it!

The ride started with an elf welcoming everyone and reading aloud the book by Chris Van Allsburg. After that, they served everyone hot chocolate and cookies made by "Mrs. Claus," and the conductor came around and punched each child's ticket with the first letter of his or her name. After about 45 minutes, we reached the North Pole, which was a makeshift village covered with Christmas lights and staffed by a handfull of volunteer elves and other Christmas characters. All of the kids were glued to the windows while we were there. Hannah announced that Rudolph was not a real reindeer - he was merely an elf dressed up as a reindeer!

As a family, we have struggled with the idea of Santa at Christmastime. We have not encouraged the kids to believe in Santa, but we have not banned him from our house either. We have talked about him mainly as a story, a fantasy like Charlie Brown or any other book or movie - something that is fun to think about but that is not real. Now, however, both Hannah and Ben are convinced that Santa is real. Even Hannah, who is a bit more skeptical, thinks we really were at the North Pole and wonders why they had no snow when we went. She also expressed to me that she thinks that millions of Santas exist all over the world - after all, she told me, she has met at least three of them just in our town! So, we are entertaining their belief, but not really encouraging it. If they want to believe he is real, they can, as long as they still understand that the real meaning of Christmas is celebrating Jesus' birthday.

Once we left the North Pole on the train, we sang Christmas carols together for the rest of the ride. Santa himself even visited our car and gave each kid a sleigh bell to take home as a souveneir.

Overall, the kids had a wonderful trip. Ben still shakes his bell next to his ear, listening and saying, "I believe... I believe..."

I appreciated that they had a chance to see the book and movie that they love come to life. It was a magical experience for children who already adore all things train related, and though the focus was definitely on Santa, the kids can still tell me why we really give gifts on Christmas, and that is what matters most.

Hot Chocolate!

Even though we don't push Santa in our house (Hannah and Ben understand that he's just a fun story like any other fairy tale), my kids became enamored with the movie The Polar Express this Christmas. They have an infatuation with trains already, and I think they view the film as an exciting train movie.

Anyway, this week we had a big snow storm that caused us to cancel our field trip to the fire station, and I could see how disappointed the kids felt. When Hannah mentioned wanting hot chocolate at breakfast (a rare treat for them), I suddenly felt inspired. While they ate, I found a free train pattern here and then printed and cut out the pieces. I also made each kid a golden yellow ticket like the one in the movie.

After breakfast, I gave the kids the train pieces and let them color and glue it together. Then, we wrote the numbers 1-4 on the cars. Once they finished, I handed them their tickets and put on the soundtrack from the movie. When the conductor yelled, "All Aboard," I checked their tickets and seated them at the table. I wrapped up the activity by serving them hot chocolate when the "Hot Chocolate" song played on the CD.

The kids loved it! They both slept with their train tickets in their beds last night and insisted that Daddy let them watch the movie while I was out last night. I don't think they even remembered that they missed their field trip...