Have I said it was cold outside on Dec. 22?? Seventeen degrees, and we felt it. The girls were like little icicles.We had to wait in line to get on the train. Couldn't board until 4:45 so we had a good 35 minutes to wait. Another thing is that the girls had to change into their
pajamas and put their coats back on. Even winter flannels are thin these days. I could hardly stand the thought of them out there like that but what do I know? They're kids at Christmas and the cold was only a necessary inconvenience at the moment. I think Scarlett was the most affected by it - but she is the youngest and smallest. 
Jonathan held her and carried her.We boarded.... chose seats about mid-way back. It took a few minutes to get everyone in place - we had assigned cars and the train was long. Our girls played a little sing-song- hand-smacking game while we waited.
Once the train was moving, the
"helpers" came alive - served hot chocolate and marshmallow Santas... talked and played with the kids... were up and down the isles being "elves"....We heard the story of the Polar Express as the elves walked up and
down the isle with the book so we could follow along as it was being read over the intercom. The kids enjoyed it and we did too.The scenery was great - we crossed the big river and at one point could look back and see the entire train.
We were in the lead car going to the "North Pole" which meant we were in the end car coming back. The kiddos enjoyed the ride, but we didn't know that the big "rub" (irritant) was yet to come on this trip.It
wasn't long (an hour or so) until we were instructed to watch carefully because we were approaching the NORTH POLE and Santa Claus would be there to greet us. We had waited all day long for snow (even fake), sugar plum houses, dancing elves and reindeer!The North Pole is SUPPOSED to have snow and lots of it. And there are SUPPOSED to be reindeer and and and................ and we
were seeing old houses strung up with outside lights, and Santa standing in the middle of the street...... looked like an old turn-of-the-century run-down neighborhood where people put only a little emphasis on Christmas lights dangling
along the eaves of their houses....and Summerlyn, Savannah and Scarlett gave me "looks" (perish the thought) like, "THIS is the NORTH POLE???"The train stopped long enough for Santa to climb aboard our car first.... then he made his way down the train to all the other cars as we were now beginning the ride back to Bryson. He handed each child a "Polar Express" jingle bell as a souvenir,
hugged, Ho-ho-hoed and went on his way.....Out came the song sheets and the kids got to make suggestions. Our girls made the majority of the suggestions (because no one else was, and the girls are "in" to singing). First, of couse was "Jingle Bells" with all of the bells going at once. Pretty neat. We also did Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer. The elves pick a child to wear the "Rudolph" antlers that light up and blink, and the Rudolph red nose. They came right for
Scarlett, and she agreed to be Rudolph. The nose was too big and wouldn't stay on, but the antlers were as cute as a button.... so while she took the part of Rudolph, the car exploded in song. It was a high moment for MeMe (are you laughing) to watch her little Scarlett "be" Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.It was dark outside by now (we picked in my estimation, the PERFECT time to ride - daylight
when we left so we could see outside, and dark for the return trip)...We arrived back at the station, wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas", and headed straight for the Pizza place where the kiddos wanted to dine. We enjoyed
being there and talking about the trip. Sure enough, they thought the North Pole was bad bad bad. So did Papaw and I. But we all enjoyed the ride on the train. Would rather do our tea party/pj party next Christmas, but the train ride itself wasn't bad.We took the route across the mountain that brought us out in Gatlinburg, so we saw all of those lights, and arrived back home close to 11:00.
Tired, but happy with our Christmas adventure. God is forever good!
