We started the Christmas Season off by taking Frontrunner from Layton to Salt Lake. The train ride was, in a word, magical. The girls loved sitting on the blue seats and staring out the windows watching the cars cruise along and gazing at the mountains. The sun was setting and it was warm and comfy inside.
When we got to Salt Lake and transferred to Trax it was much less magical. The girls struggled a bit to get on (the steps were big and difficult to manage) and the atmosphere wasn't what it had been on Frontrunner. I think part of their struggle was that they had dinner on the brain. Hungry little girls are not necessarily happy girls. We reached City Creek and enjoyed Chick-fil-A for dinner. Lydia probably would have been happy with just her lemonade, but both she and Sophie managed to fill up and cheer up. We then spent 40 minutes in both the Mother's room (taking care of Mia) and in the restroom washing up from dinner.
As we were leaving the food court a woman was standing outside this "lantern" asking passersby if they wanted to visit with Santa Claus. Did the girls want to? Of course they did! So we stepped inside and it was so cozy and inviting. What's more was that Santa and Mrs. Claus were the real deal. They'd been doing this for the past then years, Texas and Michigan before coming to Salt Lake City. Lydia had no trouble going up to Santa and sitting on his lap. She had a good conversation with him and assured him that she'd been a good little girl before asking him for a Care Bear and a jump rope. Then she was told that Mrs. Claus had a book for her if she wanted to go over to see her. Sophie was much more prepared to talk to Santa this year. No tears from her! She sat on his lap and asked for a kitty and a puppy before making her way over to Mrs. Claus. That visit, on top of Frontrunner and dinner made the night a success. We could have ended it right then and it would have been fine, but we were there to see the lights at Temple Square, so we needed to keep on going.
On our way there we stopped to look at some of the candy windows. They were filled with Charlie Brown and Snoopy. The girls told us that they liked the one with Snoopy the best. The lights were beautiful, but taking a picture wasn't easy and by now the girls were really cold and ready to head home. Jon took one of the ladies, but we weren't able to get a family shot and weren't about to fight that battle. We made our way to the Nativity and spent some time there looking at the Manger with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. We listened for a few minutes, saw the star, the wise men and the shepherds and realized that going early in December like we did is the way to do it. There were plenty of people there but it wasn't packed like it is the closer you get to Christmas. We would have loved to stay a little longer but Lydia let us know that she was freezing and we suspected that Sophie was too though she never admitted to it.
We headed back to Trax, Mia in bjorn and the girls in the bob and started stressing that we weren't going to make it back to Frontrunner station in time. The thought of being stuck in the cold with the girls for an hour before the next run arrived was unpleasant. They were pretty miserable by now and Sophie was refusing to wear her gloves as well as refusing to hold our hands. The girls hats weren't cooperating either and I'm sure that didn't help. At any rate, we made it. And not only did we make it back on time, we made it back with five minutes to spare! Phew!
The ride back went by really quickly. There was an older lady asking about our girls. She found out they liked animals and told them the names of her pets. When she found out they had their own pets (stuffed puppies and kittens) she asked for the names of their stuffed animals. She found out what they wanted for Christmas, and loved watching Mia light up as she watched her sisters. That's one of my favorites with these three. Mia could watch them all day and now that she's sitting up and rolling around it feels like it won't be long until she's running around and giggling with Lydia and Sophie.
There was another young lady sitting across the aisle from us playing peek a boo with Mia. Sophie and Lydia enjoying it just as much if not more than Mia did. Giggles galore. Sophie hugged Jon all the way home and Lydia saw a dog hop on the train and wanted so badly to go and follow it upstairs.
It was a wonderful evening and we're excited to continue the tradition in the coming years.
