Polar Express

The hottest ticket in town is a ride on the Polar Express. You have to put your name into a lottery in July. Or, volunteer to be one of Santa's elves at the North Pole for half a day, which guarantees you the privilege of paying full price for up to four tickets. That's the way we went. The elf shift turned out to be fun, especially since my friends Lauren Simmons from church and Elizabeth Maier from Norwich did it too.

Santa's train definitely delivered! Gavin was enthralled and even the ever-skeptical Lucy got into it. The hot cocoa was from Lake Champlain Chocolates -- yummmm!

Arriving at the "North Pole," Gavin shook hands with or high-fived every single elf along the way into the building. We kind of held up the line but the elves thought we was adorable and one teenage-boy elf gave Gavin his Santa hat. He was thrilled.

Gavin contemplates his jingle-bell from Santa. I wish I'd got a better photo of Santa. His outfit was more St. Nicholas than traditional Santa, and he wore gold hoop earrings in both ears. Pirate Santa. Only in Vermont.

After the ride the parents discovered that the North Pole has a great Mexican restaurant. Who knew? After dinner Gavin was a little concerned that it would be a pretty long walk back to the car since we were all the way at the North Pole, but somehow it worked out and we got home just in time to tuck two very sleepy kids into bed. One wearing a Santa hat.