T'was the day of the night before Christmas

Daycare was closed today, so I brought the bits first to my office, where there were crafts and snacks set up in the boardroom (and even a visit from one of Santa's elves with some little presents for the good kids, but none for the bad employees :) ) We left there around 11:30 and headed for C's work. He couldn't leave until 12:30, but there were tons of things for the kids to do at his office complex while we waited - balloon animal making clowns, face painting elves, crafts, juggling demos and a very nice looking Santa (who we didn't visit, but I got a huge laugh at the kids with full spiderman face paintings sitting on his lap for a nice portrait!). The kids had a blast getting small designs painted on their cheeks, playing with their balloon animals, and learning to balance on boards over top of cylinders (be still my heart).

Christmas card outtake

Big J won't pose for our Christmas card picture this year (having had his wisdom teeth taken out 3 days ago *might* be a contributing factor) but the little ones, and kittens, obliged. This is one of the 'outtakes' since I don't want to display the chosen shot just yet :)

The Polar Express

We travelled to North Conway to take the bits on a magical train ride on The Polar Express (based on the book, and movie, of the same name). We've been looking forward to this trip since we booked it back in August, but hadn't told the bits anything about it until we actually got here. It was magical. We spent the day enjoying the amenities at the resort, then doing a little shopping at the huge outlet malls in North Conway.


Then after a lovely dinner, we boarded the train (dressed in our pajamas), destination:
North Pole.

Christmas carols were sung, hot chocolate and nougat filled chocolates were served by waiters in white coats and hats. Arriving at the North Pole, we were guided along a path, up a hill by dozens of red coated elves. Inside a dome the elves put on a little show and then the big man himself, Santa Claus, took a few minutes from his schedule to give the first gift of Christmas.


On the ride back to NH, each person aboard was given a magical bell from Santa's sleigh, so we would all have our own souvenir of our trip to the North Pole. The kids loved every minute of it!