Sweet P Preston: BELIEVE!

Saturday, November 27, 2010 saw us at the Palestine Depot, in Palestine, Texas, to catch The Polar Express. If you have ever seen the movie or read the book, you know what the story is about and young boy who wants to believe in Santa and the magic but sees and hears things that tell him that "Santa" is not real. The boy is struggling with this idea on Christmas Eve night and just as he has fallen asleep for the night, his bed and windows in his room start shaking and wakes him up. He looks outside his window and sees A TRAIN. He grabs is housecoat off his foot board, and in the process tears his pocket. He RUNS outside and the Conductor asks him, "Well, are you coming or not?" His reply, "Coming where?" "To the NORTH POLE, of course! This is THE POLAR EXPRESS!" The boy does not immediately board, but he does jump on just as the train starts to pull away.

On board, he is met by other children. Once they are on their way, the conductor calls for "Tickets!" He then pulls out his hole punch and does some really fancy hole punching. Next, servers dance and sing down the train car aisles while serving hot chocolate! After, an exciting train ride the POLAR EXPRESS, finally pulls into the NORTH POLE! Once there, Santa will pick one child to present the first gift of Christmas to. When, Santa appears all the kids around the boy hear these beautiful bells and see Santa. But sadly, the boy does not hear the beautiful bells nor can he catch a glimpse of Santa. The Conductor gives the boy a look, and the boy fights within himself to believe in Santa and the magic of Christmas or to believe what others have told him about Santa. Finally, the boy hears the most beautiful sound of bells he opens his eyes and Santa is there. The boy is chosen to have the first gift of the season. The boy can have anything he wants, he whispers to Santa and Santa gives him a silver bell from his sleigh. The boy places the silver bell in his house coat pocket. All the children climb aboard, the POLAR EXPRESS again, and the conductor finishes his fancy hole punching. The boy's ticket reads BELIEVE. All the children, want to see the boy's gift from Santa. He reaches into his pocket and the bell is not there! It must have fallen out of the hole in the pocket! All the children are delivered home.

Christmas morning the boy awakens and runs downstairs. His sister and mother and father are there with him around the Christmas tree. They open the gifts. There is one gift left under the Christmas tree and it is for the boy. He opens it and finds the silver bell! It has the most magical sound. The boy and his young sister love the sound. His parents do not hear the sound of the bell and think that it is broken. Over the years, his sister was not able to hear the sound of the bell...but for the little boy who grew into a man, well he always heard the sound of the Christmas bell. Do you BELIEVE? Can you hear the bell ring?

We had our own little version of the POLAR EXPRESS. Preston was ok about the train ride, but for my nephew, Carson, the ride and experience were magical. I had a blast being able to experience it with him.

Preston all decked out in his pjs, waiting for the POLAR EXPRESS