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Yesterday we headed out to the wilds of a nearby town to go for a ride on the Holiday Express. It's a diesel train that's decked out Polar Express-style. The trip lasts about an hour and features holiday songs, a reading of the Polar Express, a visit from Santa, Rudolph, an elf, and a snowman, followed by more holiday songs. We went with our friends Kim, Jason, and the always ebullient Elsa. We told Henry we would be going for a ride on the train, and he kept asking if we were going on "the one near Grammy and Grandpa's house, the loud one with the escalator and the doors that open like this *hands held side-by-side, palms out, moving away from each other, then back again*". He was pretty disappointed that the answer was no until we pulled up to the "station" and there was the train in all its glory, decked out in icicle lights and looking resplendent. Even I started to feel pretty excited when I saw it. When we got on the train he wanted me to carry him and then he spent the rest of the walk through the many cars saying, with deep impatience, "C'mon! C'mon! Let's go! Can we sit there? Can we sit here? Can I have a blanket like one of those? C'mon! Hurry!" The train was pretty full when we got there, and we ended up in the furthest car from the entrance, which also happened to be the dining car. It was very cool. It was just past sundown so we could see the Christmas lights people had decorated their houses with, much to Henry's great joy. We noticed a couple of people peering at us from the windows of their houses and even managed to elicit a few waves. I didn't think Santa would go over very well with Henry, but since Henry and Elsa were the first kids in the car, I know Henry at least was too surprised to be nervous. He was shy though and ducked under his chair when Rudolph and the Snowman tried to high five him. Meanwhile, Elsa danced the whole second half of the trip. In the aisle. Often with Dave. If only I'd had my camera.

On the ride home, every time we passed any Christmas lights anywhere, Henry would say that he had seen them earlier on the train. This was especially amusing when we drove down Main Street where the street lamps are individually decorated, because then it was a mad rush of pointing at each one and saying "IsawthoseChristmaslightsonthetrain... IsawthoseChristmaslightsonthetrain... IsawthoseChristmaslightsonthetrain..." Needless to say, it was a *very* good evening.