Wednesday, December 23, 2009

The Polar Express

Last night Andy's parents arrived from PA to spend Christmas with us. Tonight in an attempt to participate in a fun Christmas activity that Calvin would love, we took a trip on the Polar Express. Here's the dream:

A big magical train that drives through the snowy country side, with elves delivering cookies and hot chocolate, with a visit from Santa at the end handing out a magic bell while we all sing Christmas carols.

The reality:

The train was freezing. We were told to board 30 minutes early, and then the train left 20 minutes late, so after sitting for 50 minutes on a cold motionless train, Calvin was screaming shrilly and begging to get off. The elves were cute teenage boys - they were funny and my favorite part of the whole trip. The hot chocolate, however, was very cold and the cookies were just cookies. The woman DJ-ing the train ride hadn't done it before and was very obnoxious in her obliviousness. She didn't know anything about the trip and didn't know the words to any of the carols she was singing loudly in the microphone. Also, the train was the SLOWest transportation I have ever encountered. It was dark outside, so there was nothing to look at, until the 2 seconds at the end when we passed a freezing cold Santa standing out under a red light waving as the train drove by. Calvin cried and begged for Santa to come back. He stared out the window, sadly watching for another glimpse of him.

Towards the end Calvin started playing with some other little kids and had a good time with them. He also loved the "jingy bells." The other best part was when Grandma Hazel got the giggles. We were laughing about how this was the worst train ride ever, and we all started laughing that tired, nervous laugh when something really sucks, but there's nothing you can do about it, so it just becomes hilarious. Those were the highlights.

We were sad that it wasn't as magical as we had hoped, but at least in the pictures it looks fun. Here are my favorites:

1 comment:

MaryRuth said...

haha!! Why does it never seem to go as good as we plan it in our head?