Each morning the first thing the little ones do when they wake up is look for the elf on the shelf that they named "Tink". They know the rules of no touching and are completely dedicated to being good because they want Tink to tell Santa all good things when he returns to report. Also, each day there is a count down to Christmas chain and an activity is written on it for each day. Today was to have a Christmas dance party. Along with the count down chain is Grandma and Grandpa Jones cousins count down to Christmas advent calendar. We're always excited to see who is next! Then with the fun activities of the day and spending time with the family there is a gift that is opened each night. It is a Christmas book that is read out loud to the children around the Christmas tree.
Tonight as things were settling down, after the Christmas dance party, Derek was reading a Christmas book to the kids around the Christmas tree. Luke (the 2 year old) wasn't as easily entertained. He has an eye for noticing anything going on that is exciting around him and if there is a train within sight at any point of the day. He looked out the window and noticed a glowing cho cho train drive by. At first he was the only one to see it and the boy was glued to the window with his jaw dropped and eyes wide open. I wanted to see what had this active 2 year old so captivated. To my surprise I saw the train go by, then a tractor driven by Mrs. Clause, then a lit wagon driven by Santa Clause himself. Wow that was enough for me, I knew everyone else had to see this. I started yelling for everyone to quick come and look. I must be easily excitable because at first no one but the children took me seriously. Once they made it to the window and were excited then the adults got interested and saw how incredible this really was. Quickly we each picked up the smallest child in our reach and took of running. We had to see more of this! It was a Christmas parade driving through our very own neighborhood filled with fire trucks, tractors, wagons, trucks, cars, and more that were each filled with a creative variety of Christmas lights and Santa Clause decor. We ran around the neighborhood several times, most of us in our bare feet, so the children would get the full experience of this Christmas surprise. The joy of these children were full with smiles on their faces, mouths open, and wide eyed in wonder at how lucky they were that Santa Clause came to their very own neighborhood in preparation for Christmas. It truly was a magical moment! These must be the luckiest kids in the world!
