Santa Train

We got to ride a train last week on our way to Lancaster, SC. It was so much fun! It was Bill's first time to ride the train, and unfortunately for him, he was sick! It ended up being the Santa Train too, which meant Santa and Mrs. Claus got to ride with us. It also meant that every single child in Raleigh was on our train.

The train tickets had been sold out for a couple weeks and when I ordered our tickets (about six weeks in advance) I had NO IDEA it was the Santa Train. I had no intention of introducing Sam to Santa this year. Apparently Santa had other intentions.

Here he is getting ready to board the train.

Here are he and Mrs. Claus.

Santa just assumed I was expecting him and he sat down and grabbed Sam out of my arms. Sam wasn't having any of that, and he immediately squirmed out. He looks suspicious, doesn't he? In fact, both of them do.

Finally, Sam got a little a little spunk to him and stuck his tongue out. Santa couldn't let the opportunity pass and he returned the favor.

We had a great time, enjoying free breakfast food and drinks and watching all the kids tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. What makes children love Santa when he's not around and then cry when they meet him? It was a LOUD train ride, to say the least.

Sam now has Bill's cold and has been running a fever since Saturday morning. We've seen the doctor and he says it's just a common cold, but of course we need to pay extra close attention to the fever. Hopefully he'll get through this with no troubles and we'll all be ready for Disney next week.

That's right!!! We're heading on a vacation (finally!) to Disney World next Monday. We get an extra special treat of seeing Bill's grandfather while we're in Florida. Bill's grandfather hasn't gotten to meet Sam yet and we're so excited to see him after almost five years!

We're having a Christmas party here this weekend and having a real Chinese dinner on Friday night with some old friends. We even purchased a real tree. I love Christmas in America! But, we are getting quite homesick for China. Ho hum.