Polar Express Party

The kids had a pajama day at preschool Thursday where they made S'mores trail mix & hot chocolate to enjoy while watching the Polar Express movie-and took turns at the table making their Christmas gifts for their parents (which turned out too cute if I do say so myself-thanks to my mother in law for the cute idea a while back) and a Santa windsock decoration.

Friday night we continued the theme with our annual "Books Before Bedtime" Christmas party. Parents & kids came wearing their favorite p.j.'s. The kids were handed their special POLAR EXPRESS golden ticket when they walked through the door. When everyone finally arrived, I blew a train whistle and called "ALL ABOARD!" The kids lined up to board the imaginary train and I collected their tickets as they all took a seat around the christmas tree.

I read the book using a bell and the train whistle for special affects, then the kids performed a song called "Mrs. Santa Claus"for their parents. Just as we got to the chorus we heard jingle bells in the distance outside the house! Who could it be? We turned off the music and sat in silence, the kids were on the edge of their seats and didn't move a muscle! (It was too cute)

All of a sudden, SANTA walked through the front door with a giant gift sack tied with gold cording! He let each of the kids sit on his knee and they handed him their christmas letter that they wrote in school. In return he gave each of them a special gift wrapped in a velvet box. Inside was a special shiny bell ornament with their name on it-which I had made as my holiday gift to them. He told them it was very special, from his sleigh, like in the story :) When it was Emma's turn she was slightly hesitant until we told her it was alright. She sat on his lap and told him what she really wanted for christmas was to ride his Polar Express! Seriously...she's been talking about it for weeks, she wants to go SOOOOO bad! When she wrote her letter to santa, she drew a picture and this is what she dictated to me:

(Baby Bryce was sleeping through the party-but he got a bell ornament too!)

Santa left and we all enjoyed holiday cookies, "Defrosty" the Snowman candies and Hot Chocolate with various fun toppings available (Andies Mint pieces, mini chocolate chips, christmas tree shaped marshmallows, whipped cream, etc.) there were striped peppermint stir sticks and chocolate covered spoons too!

All in all-I think it was a great turn out and fun had by all! I handed out a CD I made with a few songs from the Polar Express soundtrack as parting gifts before the kids headed home to bed. Everyone was pretty pumped to head to North Bend to board the "real" Polar Express train headed to "The North Pole"on Saturday! :)