The Polar Express

After our trip to Ice we left Dallas and headed for Palestine. That's right as if I had not had enough Christmas wonder, I planned another excursion for the kiddos the next day. Note to self: Never, never do that again! Provide at least a week between children's Christmas activities.



My husband told me I you leave Lindale by 5 o'clock you be there in plenty of time for the 6:45 train. So, I assumed he was right, after all we have a deer lease in Palestine which he frequents and therefore would be familiar with the travel time. Well, we left at 5:00 but I didn't account for the traffic, or the fact that the tickets (that I forgot to print out) clearly state to arrive 30 minutes before departure. So needless to say when we drove up and parked in the boonies, as soon as I opened the car door I heard a train whistle and a parking attended yell " 5 minutes!" GOOD Gracious!!!!! We had 3 kids to get out of car seats and a #2 diaper that had to be changed, plus I had to go to will call and get the tickets! I was not feeling super great about this.

So I take my boys, leaving Mom and Christie at the car with the baby and the BAD diaper. I am literally jogging to the office, in heels I might add holding a 22 pound dead weight little boy and dragging another! So I grab the tickets and head out to the train. I see a train attendant who tells me I must go to the first car, so I assumed he knew what he was talking about and all. I call my sister and tell her, she says: we're here at the last car, Me: we have to be at the first car! That's what the man said. So she and my Mom are running down the tracks, and they are holding the train for us at this point. They hop on and the doors shut, whistle blows, I look around and WAIT we are missing a baby UGG boot!!! Then I look around and I'm like this isn't first class!!! A Man says, oh no first class train is the last one. OH MY GOSH!!!!! I am so stressed, I don't handle things like this well. I really just wanted to jump off and roll down like in the movies, but wait I have two kids with me. Okay, plan B, the train is moving we can't get off and walk back to first class. So the attendant's tells me well we will have to do the real Polar Express style and walk you all the way back between the cars. Oh this should be really fun!!! So we did walk all the way from the first car to the last. Each time the doors opened people were staring thinking, who are the people. Finally we reach the last car, and I hear people whispering, "oh they showed up!" Our tables had been taken by other families who thought we weren't coming so we had two tables of two instead of a table for four and a table for two. I was just glad to be sitting instead of getting windblown and swaying from side to side, changing cars.








So Polar Express was a little more that we bargained for this year but, the kids didn't care and that's who we do it for anyway!! My Mom went to the lost and found when it was over and someone had thankfully turned in the UGG!! YEAH!!!!!! So it wasn't a total bust after all!!