The Festivities Have Begun

Have you ever noticed that many of the things designated as "for kids" are done so only because adults would take one look at them and say, "You charged me for this?" Adults with children (universally known for a lack of discretion - the children, that is... *ahem*), however, are capable of keeping focused on the happy, undiscerning children for prolonged periods of time. That's pretty much what we did today.

We took the boys on the "Santa Train" at the North Alabama Railroad Museum. Friends had taken a similar excursion in Arizona. Another friend has taken one in Georgia. All reports were glowing. This is a pretty pricy adventure, but we figured it's something special, not something you do everyday... why not? The boys were absolutely thrilled. Something about little boys and trains that spans the ages...

The setting is beautiful, and the old trains are fascinating. The wait was a little chilly, but there's plenty to see while you wait.



By the time we could line up to board the train, anticipation was at a painful high.



The first car on the Santa Train: a 1939 coach, styled in a mid-50's Amtrak decor. Pretty neat. Has a slightly funky, "I'm an old train" smell to it. Bright. Airy. This is neat.



Second car on the Santa Train: a baggage car, converted to an "observation car" (aka - the gift shop, but they have a bench in there, too). This car has mojo. It's fascinating and is the nicest car in the line-up. (Which you cannot tell from this picture... sorry.)



And then, the car we rode in:

It smells like feet. The windows are so scratched up you cannot see clearly out of them. And, although it's the "dining car" (was a hospital car, but they've worked hard to give it a good "Old Hospital Cafeteria" feel), we were bunched into an alcove just outside the rest of the car. And the seats with tables. We spent half an hour feeling like we'd been made to go sit in the hall for disrupting the class.

The conductors do this for the love of it. And it shows. I wish they'd give them a more active role - tell us about the cars. Tell us about the Santa Train, how long it's been active, what kinds of restorations are going on. Maybe tell a narrative, or lead the group in singing or playing some fun games. Something. Something other than sitting in a car we can't see out of, trying not to breathe through our noses, and wondering if these chairs are going to kill us in a wreck. We did get one guy with a trick Santa hat who came through and played with the kids for a couple of minutes, but that was it.

What we could see of the "landscape" as we bumped along the track was mostly what you would see walking down any alley in town. And at that, we couldn't see details; we weren't sure if those were bodies of hobos keeping warm in Christmas wrapping,



or the "concrete menagerie" the conductor mentioned five minutes later.

So, we set about to amuse ourselves, and gave the camera to the boys...

One, two, three, lunge!

"Baby Girl, look this way! No, over here! Baby GIRL...?"

"OK, John, take a picture of me making this face!" (And only a brother would understand why this was cool.)



"No, us not ready..."


THREE, man! Car three has all the cool people! (And bad lighting...)



That's a guaranteed fun time, there, no matter where you're stuck.

Santa did arrive in the last ten minutes of the trip. He walked into our alcove, shook hands with the boys, did not say a word, and walked right past us into the rest of the car, to greet the other children, get pictures, and hear what they wanted for Christmas. If you could bottle the dissapointment on the boys' faces at that moment, it would be the most heartbreaking thing you've held. Zorak and I understand that he didn't want to keep the other children on pins and needles where they could see him and had to wait for him, but I cannot abide by making three little children think Santa doesn't want to hear what they'd like for Christmas because he just walked out on them, no explanation, no nothing. We weren't even sure if he was coming back, as the engine was now on that end of the train.

As it turns out, he did come back... but that'll have to be another post in the morning.

What. A. Trip.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy