Santa Train

Bear with me, this is wordy!

Each December, there is a Santa Train that comes through town dropping Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus off near the town square.  There is also a drawing for a chance to ride the train with Santa . . . Zach entered Jackson in the drawing, and Jackson was one of four kids whose name was drawn to ride the train!!!  We knew he would love the train, but based on Jackson's track record with Santa the last 2 years, we were a little concerned that Santa being around may ruin Jackson's fun!  We were at the  pick-up before the train arrived and Jackson was ecstatic!  He loves just being around the tracks!  By the time the train arrived, however, we were getting concerned.  We could hear the train coming before we ever saw it and Jackson was scared to death and trembling in Zach's arms.  His preschool class watched Polar Express sometime recently and some of the kids were scared of the movie, so now Jackson is terrified of it (even though he watched at least 3 times per day last December).  With that being said, we think he got scared of the train because of the movie.  By the time the train was stopped in front of where we were, Jackson was hiding in our car.  I was able to get him out of the car and to the train.  By the time we were standing next to the train, his attitude was the complete opposite--he was screaming to get on the train!  Although we had planned that Zach would ride with him, I ended up riding the train with him.  By this point, we were just glad he got on!

The train arrived and we had to wait a few minutes before loading and Jackson was throwing a fit to get on!

All of these pictures are a little blurry . . . Zach was holding Katherine and each time he held the camera up to take a picture, she went after it causing most of the pictures to be blurry!

On the train and waiting to leave!

He did great on the ride and was so cute waving out of the window to the stopped cars when we crossed the highway!  Santa talked to him as well and it didn't seem to phase him!

Getting off

Arriving near the square . . .

remember Zach is still holding Katherine and she's attacking the camera!

And on the way home. 

He wasn't too happy to be leaving.

He is screaming "I want that way" over and over, wanting to go back to the train and Santa

{Zach loves this clip, so that's the main reason it's on here!}

And after we got home and he finally calmed down, this is what we found!