THE POLAR EXPRESS

Because I didn't start this blog until almost Christmas time, I didn't get to write about our experience on the "Polar Express". The first week into December, I got a phone call from Make-A-Wish asking us if we would like to receive tickets to the Polar Express. For those of you who haven't read the book or seen the movie, this will probably be a little confusing for you, for those who have...you'll understand what kind of adventure this was. How could we turn away tickets to ride on the actual Polar Express? Because they were offering 7 tickets and we only have 6 in our family, we invited one of our close friends Kathy to go with us. We drove about an hour north to catch the Polar Express. Thanks to Make-A-Wish we had "exclusive seating" tickets. (the best seats on the train) Dressed in our pajamas, we were the first ones on the train and were seated in a roomy car. They served us hot chocolate and a chocolate with a nougat center. After about 30 minutes of waiting we were headed off to the north pole. We traveled for a bit and visited with the different workers on the train including the engineer who stopped to have his picture taken with us. (see below) Finally we made it to the North Pole, it was a long journey. The elves met us and guided us to Santa's workshop. Once inside we got to meet all the elves that work so hard every year to make all the toys for the children. Because Ben was from Make-A-Wish, he even got his own "ELF" escort. Her name was "Jingles". A man came out dressed in pajamas and read us the "Polar Express" story. When he was finished, Santa came out to meet all of the children. (my batteries from the camera had run out by now) He stayed for about 10 minutes or so before he had to say goodbye and then we were escorted back to the train for our long journey home. (okay...it was only about 15 minutes) We so enjoyed our experience and want to thank all the great people at Make-A-Wish for thinking of us and giving us this special memory. We love you guys!!!