The Polar Express

I got tickets for the Polar Express on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad a while back, and we've been looking forward to it for a while--we decided to go the Sunday before Christmas (the day before Christmas Eve) since we didn't have anyone visiting for Christmas and we knew we'd be at home anyway.  We left Sunday morning and let Em stay in her pjs in the truck--she was super excited since Elfie had brought her some new slippers to wear!

We got to Bryson City in time to look around a little, check out a bookstore, eat dinner and stop by this toy maker's workshop, where Em made a link for this paper chain to put on the tree.  There were over 800 links, each one with a child's name on it who had been to the workshop.

We got to the train depot, picked up our tickets, and Em had a chance to see Santa before we boarded the train!  She stuck with her wish--a tiger and a balloon, please.

The town was all decorated and Christmasy--it was cold, too, so it made it feel like the North Pole.

I didn't get a great shot of the train.

For anyone who has read the book or seen the movie, they do a pretty good job of staying true to the story--everyone is encouraged to wear pjs, so Em and I both wore ours.  There were two servers on our car, and when the music started, they got all the kids in the aisles clapping and dancing and marching.  Em, of course, joined right in with no hesitation--it was so cute.

She had a great time with all the older kids.

The story talks about having hot chocolate "as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars,"



and it really was--check out Em's chocolate mustache!  She loved it.  As if that wouldn't have been enough, Mrs. Claus had also made chocolate chip cookies for everyone.

We got cleaned up after the snacks, and they read the book--we were asked to bring our copy to follow along, and this was one of her favorite parts.

When we arrived at the North Pole, they turned off the lights in the train so it was really dark, and you could see all the city lights.  Again, I didn't get a great picture here.

The conductor came around and punched everyone's golden ticket, just like in the movie.

And then we stopped long enough for Santa to come on board!  He came around and spoke to each child and gave out silver sleigh bells.

This was by far Em's favorite part--she had looked forward to the bell the whole time,

so she held it up and said "the first gift of Christmas!" (also from the book/movie if you're not familiar with it)

We sang Christmas carols on the ride back to the depot.  Em had a wonderful time, and it was of course so much fun to see how excited she was.  We stayed in a hotel nearby in Cherokee so we didn't have to make the 3 1/2 hour trip home until the morning.