AHHH...you can almost smell it in the air. Thanksgiving is just a few days away...and then the craziness begins. I do love Thanksgiving. The family all gathered 'round, good food, good laughs, good relaxation. However, the day after is what I look forward to the most. No, it's not because of Black Friday...I am not fond of shopping in crowds, and no, it isn't all the leftovers from the day before either. This is the day, that our family has a very special tradition.
This will be year 3 of my favorite family tradition to-date! The day after Thanksgiving, Scott pulls out all of our Christmas decorations. As we work on getting the house decorated, which really could take about a week, down at the bottom of one of the ornament boxes it lays. The Polar Express!
Packed away each year with the Christmas stuff so that the kids (ok and I) don't get too tired or desensitized to it's magic, is the BEST holiday movie (barring Christmas Vacation, but I am talking about kid friendly here!)!
That night we will sit as a family with our hot cocoa, blankets, in jammies, and no lights on mesmerized by the music, beauty, and magic of this movie. This year, Pax will be old enough to join us, and I can't wait to see his face as he watches the train weave its way through tall mountain peaks, icy polar caps, and into Santa's village in the North Pole.
Delanie is already talking all about it. "Guess what?" she says to anyone who will listen/answer back...people at the grocery store, her cousins, our neighbors, ANYONE! "Friday is the day for Polar Express!" People usually look at her with a very confused look. See she doesn't quite get that this isn't something that everyone does. I really think she is waiting for a response of "YES! I know I can't wait" She usually says "You know the Polar Express...? Friday's the day we get it out!" With another confused look from whom ever she is speaking to she usually lets the conversation drop at this point, if I haven't rescued her already.
That's what I love about traditions. Something so simple, yet something you can't imagine not having. Something you don't even recall NOT doing. Something you can't wait to do every year. Something you have to talk about with others because you're so excited you might burst.
After Friday night, it's onward to the Christmas holiday rush. We will shop, eat, party, watch the other Christmas movies (probably Polar Express a few more times), and spend time with the fam....But that Friday after Thanksgiving, we take a few hours to wind our way up to the North Pole every year to see if we can still hear the bells on Santa's reindeer and sleigh. As I sit back with my family all warm and cozy and wrapped up in the magic, I think to myself, "Please, never let those bells go silent."
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