We've always thought it would be fun to do the Polar Express Christmas train experience with the kids....but man, those tickets are NOT cheap. But we did find a train ride in a little town in Colorado. They read the story of a girl that takes a ride on train to visit family and along the way she meets all these characters that come to life and talk to her. So we went to the train station and waited to board the train. When we got on they gave each of the kids a whistle and a cookie and hot chocolate. They read the book and as they did new characters would walk through the train and sing and dance. Half way through the ride we looked out the window at Santa's village all lit up and decked out. We had great timing because as soon as we got off the train we noticed all sorts of people walking in one direction in town. It was the town Christmas parade, so we got to watch that, and the kids collected candy. Then we found a pizza place to eat at and headed to our hotel where we spent the night. The kids had a blast.
Christmas was just our own little family this year. The kids all slept in the upstairs bedroom together. They didn't wake up too early on Christmas morning - maybe 6:30, and patiently waited for the music to play so they could come downstairs. The boys got matching Davy Crockett hats. Nathan got an airsoft machine gun, which he was thrilled about. Santa brought some awesome huge balloons this year which totally filled up the entire room. We had our traditional breakfast casserole and spent the rest of the day playing with our spoils and eating our treats.
