We met Santa, part 1

There's always a story, isn't there? Well, maybe not EVERY time but it sure seems to be true a lot of the time.

So we bought tickets for the Santa train this weekend (hot tickets around heer and we bought them back in November). When making out our December calendar, I entered the Santa train for today, Saturday, December 12th. I didn't know that it would be this bloody cold when I bought the tickets or I think I would have skipped it. The trains aren't heated, you know. And apparently you wait in line for Santa outside. In the cold. Which has been VERY cold this week. Adding insult to injury, we all couldn't get tickets on the 10am train (we're going with K's friends from her old daycare) and ended up with tickets on the 9am train. Reading the fine print last night, they suggest that you get to the North Bend Train Depot 30 minutes before the departure time - for what I don't know. All I can imagine is another line. Outside. In the cold. So, bear with me here, but for us to get to the NBTD at 8.30am, we must leave our house about 8.00am - a little before would be great just in case there's a line at Starbuck's. (I'm not standing in all these frigid lines without SOMETHING to keep me warm!) And for us to be out of the house a little before 8.00am with all of us showered, shaved, dressed and fed (Katie), we've got to get up about 6.30am. This is like a weekday for me folks, except more work. Up and showered and then herding Butch and Katie to do the same (adding in all of Katie's disagreements over clothes, hair, shoes, whatever!). All to stand in several cold, long lines. Who's brilliant idea was this anyway?!?!? Well, at least tomorrow we can take a more leisurely pace before we head into Seattle and freeze while riding the Holiday Carousel before seeing the Nutcracker. Or so we thought. I returned to the car after our Starbuck's stop to find a very long faced Katiebug in the back and Butch asking me if I remember "the Phoenix Debacle". (That's the one where I somehow booked a return flight two months in the future. We didn't realized it until I was about to lay into the poor ticketing agent at the airport. Ooops!) Well, this one wasn't THAT bad. I just missed it by a day. Our tickets are for Sunday, December 13th. Not Saturday, December 12th. Katie was crying because she was ready to see Santa and I was about to cry because, yes, you guessed it. We get to do this all again tomorrow. I can't type what was really going through my brain...

So, we rallied. We went to the Reindeer Festival at The Cougar Mountain Zoo, fed the reindeer and met Santa. Katie was still very nervous, but she sat with him by herself this year, reminded him that she is FOUR, smiled and told him what she wanted for Christmas. I wasn't sure we'd get a decent picture this year, but we did!

Katie and the big guy himself!



One of his trusty reindeer, maybe Blitzen?


Daddy and Katie in the MacDaddy Caddillac Sleigh



Mommy and Katie showing our reindeer antlers


Stay tuned for round two pictures tomorrow...