Catching Up December: My Birthday & Riding The Polar Express 12/05

This year I had a really great birthday! I have had some really good birthdays, but I think that this one was one of the best ever, and I think that that had a lot to do with silly ol' me than anything else. I try really hard not to, but I think I usually have this crazy fairy-tale imagination that leads me to believe that birthdays are supposed to be magical... You know? I wake up (after sleeping late) to a magically clean house, the children all get along all day, the husband and I communicate like we've actually read and applied all those marriage books on the book shelf, the gifts are all heart-felt... some are even homemade, the surprises throughout the day are endless... Just like all of your birthdays, right? Doesn't that just seem so crazy?!? This year, however, I was able to maintain a reasonable, adult-like expectation of what my birthday would be like, and it was just exactly that. And we all had a good time. (Well, except for those incidences where the kids acted like they do on all of the other 364 days of the year.) I had told Corey that I wanted to do something "Christmasy" for my birthday, so we decided to take the kids to Grapevine for their festivities downtown and to ride the Polar Express. It was a ton of fun!

So after a morning of a bagel served to me in bed, some wonderful gifts from my family, and some uninterrupted movie watching and Facebook playing, we all got ready and headed to Grapevine.

Cooper played games with Santa on stilts.

~ waiting for the train ~

(Many people wore their PJs like in the movie Polar Express, and the boys joined in on that fun.)

~Silly Cooper & me ~

Before we boarded the train, all of the people that were to ride our train gathered in a tent and watched a performance and sang Christmas carols. Part of the entertainment was a Daddy Dance Off. My kids excitedly brought attention to Corey, and out of the hundreds of people in the tent, he was one of the ones that was picked to be a part of the contest. I can say that watching him do that contest was hands-down a highlight of my holiday season. It was so funny! I didn't know he would dance like that --- in public! :) (I have the video of his Dance Off on my Facebook page if you have not seen it.)

After the entertainment in the tent, it was time to board the train.

We all sang Christmas carols as we rode on the Polar Express.

Then, Santa visited every train car and talked to the kids.

After the train ride, we walked around town for a bit and enjoyed the decorations and the light show that was set to music.

Before heading home, we stopped by Starbucks.

When we arrived home, Coop and I snuggled in the gift that he had given me for my birthday... a pink Snuggie.

Happy Birthday to ME!