country christmas train

i love the south. they go all out when it comes to christmas and heralding the true meaning of christmas. and by "all out" i mean that people have trains on their property. a train! and not just any train...a country christmas train! stinkin cutest thing ever. it was covered in lights and inside the old fashioned train christmas music played. as the train made its way around the extensive property, you were told the story of the Nativity. people were in the fields acting out the story: wisemen, joseph and mary, a stable, baby jesus, they were all there. it was awesome. and in between the "actors" christmas lights were everywhere. on trees, on farm equipment, on buildings, you name it. simply adorable and so much fun.

we also waited two hours to sit on Santa's lap. scott and i would take turns with j while the other stayed in line. we got some homemade gingerbread (best i ever had), visited shops and the petting zoo and just let j run around and marvel at all the lights.

what made up for the two hour wait was the experience inside. our little family got about ten minutes with Santa and Mrs. Claus all to ourselves inside their country cottage (hence why the line took forever). j sat on Santa's lap and didn't make a peep. he just stared and stared. no emotion. ha. thank heavens he didn't cry at least! and maybe it was the puppies that kept him so focused, the genius photographer's assistant held live puppies near the camera. seriously, genius. so we got about 20 or so photos from the photographer and j has the same look in all of them. totally in the zone :)

we will definitely be going back next year. (assuming we still live here haha. with us, you never know.)