Santa Train-OLD

Out where Nan lives, there is a famous train station that houses all sorts of trains, from very old to very new.  They are most famous for the movie studios use of the trains in TV and film.  Throughout the year they host events inside the trains, so during Christmastime one of the events they hold is a Santa train... very similar to the Polar Express.  When Nan suggested this to me, I jumped on board (no pun intended) and bought tickets for Spencer and me.  I'm sure you can guess how excited he was about this event too.

Outside the Train

Meeting the Conductor

Boarding to find our seats... This is Rocky and Piper

(Nan and I both forgot our cameras, so all the pictures are with her iphone).

Nan and I were kind of chuckling.  The decorations were pretty cheesy and the "stations" we passed on the way were pretty low quality for the price we paid, but the whole ambiance was seriously just so fun to me, especially because Spencer and the kids were having such a great time.  I loved the old fashioned train with the high backed seats.  It was completely full, and I think there were four or five train cars.  

Riding the Train

Spencer couldn't contain himself, especially when we started moving.  It was so funny, and fun, to watch.

Piper, Nan and Rocky

So, the whole concept was that we were riding the train to the North Pole to pick up Santa where we would take him back to the train depot to then be able to sit on his lap and tell him what you wished for.  Each way was about 20 minutes.  To kill time there were a couple of elves in each train car that handed out cookies, bells, lyrics to the songs which we sang along to and a story reading of The Night Before Christmas.

Shaking the Bell

Singing Frosty

Who Likes Cookies?

Green Christmas Tree Sugar Cookies and chocolate milk

Spencer's not a fan of chocolate milk but he had a fun time dipping his cookie in it.

The conductor coming around to punch tickets... Nan taught Spencer to say "No Money! No Ticket!"  Still to this day he goes around saying it.

We should have gotten pictures after he punched it.  He did it in the shape of a candy cane.

Santa Visit!!!!

He came around handing out candy canes.

Santa's Train Car

Waiting in Line

Spencer running to see Santa. He wasn't scared at all.

Of course, all he wanted was "trains and train tracks."  I wasn't very impressed with this Santa. He barely spoke two words to the kids.  The kids didn't care.  Rocky was starting to get a little suspicious though.

The train depot was in a little old town in Fillmore and they had a cute post office that used to be the old town post office. The kids could write letters to Santa.

(Originally I had thought Rocky wrote this but per Nan's comment below it wasn't. And it makes more sense. I was surprised to think he had written it.)

We had such a good time and would definitely do it again.  It really was a fun way to get in the Christmas mood (I hadn't really gotten into it by then).  Thanks Nan for always pulling something fun together!