I hope Santa doesn't forget

Don't worry, it wasn't really hard at all to convince her that Santa remembers everything.   At one point this evening, out of the blue, we heard, "Santa and God know everything, don't they?"

This afternoon, we headed to the local Rail Road Museum for the Polar Express event.  They hold them on weekends in December and have local television celebrities reading the story to the kids.  It has been years since I cried my way through read the book, but I believe what we heard today was a very abridged version.  I can remember my wonderful co-teacher Rachele and I having to hand the book back and forth between the two of us to be able to finish the story for the kids.

But, this version was a great length since many of the kids were younger than mine.  Several were older, too.  When I bought the tickets, they encouraged me to dress the kids in their jammies for comfort and fun.  They were happy to get to wear their new gingerbread pajamas.  The good news is... they will not trip on the stairs running down to the tree on Christmas morning.  (Guess it is a good thing I did not cut the pajama pants to hem them, I simply tucked it all up inside the leg and sewed the hem quite high.  I'll have to let it out soon.)

After the story, which was very well read with a jolly deep Santa voice,  Santa appeared and each child was given a jingle bell just like the main character of the story has received.   Each child could sit with Santa and tell him what they would like for Christmas.  I did not get to hear Carl's request, but Gretchen told me he asked for a "Talking Nemo stuffed animal and a gummy cheeseburger."  I was close enough to hear Gretchen ask for a Holiday Barbie.  Santa said, "What else?" and she replied, "I can't think of anything else."  The Barbie is all she has wanted all along.  I truly think Santa will be able to make their wishes come true this Christmas. 

Then, we got to go into the Kids' Room and see the awesome train display they have in there.  It was all enclosed in a case with buttons surrounding the base that the kids could push to make different displays do different things.  I wasn't sure how Carl would like a train he couldn't touch.......  well, he loved it!!!!    They had a couple Thomas tables, but he didn't play with those - he was much too into the display one.  I definitely want to take them back to the whole museum to see all the displays. 

Gretchen and I had a cup of hot cocoa and we even bought some raffle tickets to win a toy train set.  Hope we have the same good luck my mother would have!! 

It was a nice afternoon event and possibly something of a new tradition.  A wonderful kick-off to the holiday season!!