Christmas Lights and Choo-choo trains

Over the Thanksgiving break I was able to go to Callaway Garden’s Fantasy in Lights. Now, typically, I take my holidays one at a time, and hate to put one in front of another, but I was really looking forward to this. My Mom, sister DeAnna, my roommate Folsom, my sister-in-law Edie, my 23 month old niece Elizah, and myself tagged along with my fiancé’s family. Some of the smaller kids in the family rode in David’s aunt’s van, but for the most part, we rode in the trolley. I hadn’t been to see the lights in years, but it was magical. Listening to Christmas music with the cold air stinging our cheeks was a great way to bring in the holidays. Even more fun than seeing the Christmas lights was watching the reactions of both David’s nephew Michael, who just turned two, and my niece. Elizah was in awe the entire time, well, until she finally fell asleep. Michael on the other hand was only too happy to shoot the lights out! Upon entering the path of lights Michael begin yelling “pow” while pointing at the lights. It was so funny! He did this for about the first 10 minutes of the ride, and then randomly throughout. Apparently he thought they were too bright, too loud, or just too there. After the ride was over, my crew ventured to the Christmas village, where there were vendors selling jams, ornaments, nutcrackers and the like. The Christmas village was also where Santa was. We took Elizah to the gates outside the line to sit on Santa’s lap so she could see him. Instead of being interested in him, she was interested in the train circling around the top of the “hut” that Santa was sitting in. Elizah didn’t want to take her eyes off of that train. She would ask for it when it would travel out of sight, and when we could see it again, she would get so excited! I think that she probably would have stayed and watched that train all night. I think that maybe Santa needs to bring little Liza one for Christmas! We all had such a good time, and it brought back so many memories of when I was a little kid.


This time of year always brings back so many memories, and “stories.” So, for your entertainment, I’ve decided to try to come up with one story for each day leading up to Christmas. Think of it as you very own, very different advent calendar. I’ll begin on the first of December, but to tide you over for the next few days, I’ll give you a teaser. Some of these potential stories involve: a pair of red ropers, a red dress, a purple hippopotamus, singing around the Christmas tree, and reindeer sausage, just to name a few.