All Aboard on the Santa Express

So, Oliver "gets it" this year. Christmas that is. And all that is wonderful and magical about it. We're working on the Jesus's birthday part, and he sort of understands that concept and is excited to sing Happy Birthday to Him when the big day comes. But as far as Santa goes, well in Oliver's mind, he and St. Nick are best buds. He had nary a worry last weekend in marching right up and plopping in the big guy's lap, rushing to exclaim that he wants "two swords" for Christmas. Now, it sounds like he's saying he wants "two shorts" for Christmas, which I can assure you would only lead to major disappointment in the unwrapping department if I ran with that interpretation.
And not only did Oliver get to have a little one-on-one chat with Santa once last weekend, but twice. He saw Santa at our daycare's annual pancake breakfast with Santa fundraiser at Applebee's on Saturday. Then, Matt and I surprised him on Sunday morning with tickets to take a ride on the Santa Express in Baldwin City. It's a real live train, with a few of the cars built back in 1898 (Note for next year - bring a blanket. It's chilly in December). It's really hard to not get too crazed with Christmas cheer and overdo things during the holidays, but I think this little outing was/is totally worth it. Our family, along with about 100 other families, hopped on a train that (slowly) took us on a magical 10-ish mile journey, where we listened to Christmas stories, sang Christmas songs, drank hot cocoa and ate sugar cookies, and, oh yeah, marched on up to the last train car and paid a visit to Santa and Mrs. Claus. It was pretty awesome. Another note, make sure to potty at the train station, as no bathrooms are to be found once you start your journey!

All smiles at Applebee's

Posing on the front of another train at the Baldwin City station. So, I guess this place is like a real train station. With real trains. And crossings. But no gates or flashing lights. And no barriers to keep kids from climbing on said trains. And really only some guys yelling out to "hurry up and cross" if you are walking along the tracks and a train happens to come up on ya. And 200 people milling around outside waiting for the Santa Express to arrive. Hmm. Oh well, no one got hit. :)

Honorary conductor.

Can you tell it was sunny? Really sunny. With no window shades. But, we were so happy to see sun after the December we've had that we weren't complaining. Just letting it wash over us.

Hamming it up with the Clauses.