The Santa Express

As of late, Jackson's favorite movie is The Polar Express. Almost the entire movie takes place on a train, which is undoubtedly the reason it captures his attention. Just before Christmas, we took another trip to Utah with a stop in Colorado Springs on the way there and on the way back. We LOVE traveling to Utah (for work) because we get to spend time with the Madrids on both ends of the trip.

Michelle found out about the Santa Express train in Canon City. It's supposed to be like the Polar Express. Kids wore their jammies on the train. They served hot chocolate (and a cookie) on our way to the "North Pole." Santa came on the train and gave each child a bell - like the bell that the boy gets from Santa on the Polar Express. We knew Jackson would be thrilled about the opportunity to ride on a real train, and we thought it would be fun holiday thing to do. I'll tell the night in pictures:
Waiting outside to board our train:

It took a lot of persuading to get that hat on Jason's head!

At Gate 2 waiting to board. I love this photo. Isn't Steve's blankie so cute! I love how he's holding it just like Michelle and I are holding the kids!

Michelle and Allison:

Jason is stowing our bags. I don't feel the need to document this, but notice his ticket:

Like father, like son! I thought it was so cute of him to imitate his Daddy:

They looked thrilled, don't they!

Our family on the train:

Momma and sweet Belles:

Steve, the popcorn man. Popcorn is his favorite snack.

Punch time! Jackson was so excited to have the conductor punch his ticket:

Checking out the punches:

He punched it "like five times":

Our train car's elf:

My happy boy:

We had to go find the conductor and get more punches:

At the North Pole looking at Santa's house and the elves' homes from the train:

Finally, on her belly. That's all she needs to get to sleep.

Waiting for Santa to visit our train car:

Steve and Michelle are so awesome. They don't have a toddler. They're empty-nesters. But they still came with us. Poor Michelle. All of the elf dancing and "We want Santa!" wore her out. (The "We want Santa wore all of us out. It was a little obnoxious.):

Here's Santa:

"Alli, do you want to see my bell?!"

"I love you, sweet girl."

Kisses for my darling:

Leaving the train:

What a fun time we had! We haven't really taught Jackson about Santa Claus in the traditional way. We found this book a couple of years ago and really liked how they handled Santa.

It talks about the real St. Nicholas and where the idea of "Santa" came from. While we have decided to tell our children the truth about Santa Claus, we aren't against doing things that are Santa-related...like the train. And this is what we've decided to do for our family, but we certainly do not judge the choices of others.

This was our first year to figure out how we'd like to handle the holiday with our children because Jackson was at the age to start understanding things. We learned a lot. We did things that we'd like to continue and we discovered some things that we'd like to change for next year. Our heart's desire is for our children to realize that Christmas is not about them. It's not about getting presents. We want them to realize that it's about God's decision to send His Son so that He could ultimately die for our salvation. We want them to give at Christmas just like God gave His Son for us. It's hard to fight against the way our culture handles the holiday, but we feel it is very important in teaching our children the real reason for Christmas day.