New Englanders! Much ado about New England!

[momofdrew]

Quote:
wow glad you got it back on...what did you do for heat? do you have a well??? there are still places here in NH without lights water heat

 

[the simple life]

Lots of snow, it just keeps on coming.
They claim it should stop around midnight, but then another storm on Sunday.
I am keeping my fingers crossed because I have tickets to the Polar Express in NH on Sunday evening and its not going to be good traveling weather.

 

[redhen]

Quote:
whats the polar express? do you mean the movie?

 

[the simple life]

Yes, they recreate the story of the Polar Express.
They send you the tickets in advance and when you get to the station you board the train and head to the North Pole.
You are suppose to wear your pajamas and bathrobe.
They serve hot chocolate and the tickets I ordered were for the premium seats which is the type with the tables like the train in the story.
The premium tickets also include a small gift from Santa aside from the bell he gives later.
At the North Pole there are the elves and Santa's post office and places like that.
You go into the theatre and listen to the story of the Polar Express which is read by the little boy in the story who is now an old man.
Then Santa comes out and visits all the children and gives them each a Christmas bell, like the one from the story.
You can walk around and check out the North Pole and then afterwards you board the train for home.
These tickets are done by lottery every year.
You send in your application in September and they specify one day in October where they will call you if your name is drawn.
You can give them up to 3 numbers to reach you and they will call each one only once.
If you miss the call you are out of luck because they toss your application if you don't answer.
You have to be ready to pick a date, time and the amount of tickets you want to order (up to 12) and pay for them at that time.
I wanted the weekend closest to Christmas and they had Sunday evening available so I went with it.
I have been trying to win tickets to this since the first year it began and that was 14 years ago!
I finally got my chance, my oldest is now 21 years old but better late than never. All 4 of the older ones are going and they agreed to wear their pajamas.
I guess it doesn't hurt that I bought everyone brand new pajamas, bathrobe and slippers.
Even thought he older kids are now grown I still have the younger kids and ts going to be so nice for us all to experience this through their eyes.
I have the elf on the shelf- if you don't know that story, its a book and elf that come together and the story is that the elf comes to stay with you right after Thanksgiving.
He is there when you wake up in the morning but he goes back to the North Pole every night to visit Santa and to give his report on the children.
Well the kids know that he leaves every night because when they wake up he is always in a different place.
They have to walk around and see where he is each morning.
I have actually had to get out of bed and move him at night because I have forgotten to do it before I went to bed.
So one morning when the elf came back from the North Pole he had a letter from Santa inviting the children to come and visit him in the North Pole and the tickets for the Polar Express in his hands.
Thats how I gave the tickets to them so they think that santa sent them.
They are so ecstatic and actually so am I, mostly because all of us are going to be together.
As the kids get older its not easy to get all 9 of us in one place, college, jobs, boyfriends, girlfriends etc. pull everyone in different directions.
But not this Sunday, we will all be together and making another wonderful memory.

 

[redhen]

aww!..could you give me the info on this please!(phone # or website)...it sounds wonderful!..and the elf story...i havent read it..but..i ALMOST ordered that book(with the elf included) from a magazine this year!..i think i may do that for next year...the kids are never to old for that type of thing!..me either!..

..Thanks, Wendy

 

[the simple life]

Sure its http://74.6.239.67/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=www.polarexpress.org&fr=yfp-t-501&u=www.polarexpress.org/&d=TKCtDkfiR_Gh&icp=1&.intl=us

You can type in www. polarexpress.org but sometimes other places come up with the same type of them but are not the same.

There are several other places that do it on a much smaller scale so make sure you find the one that is put on by the Believe in Books foundation.

If you use the link I sent you you can print out the application for 2009, thats how early they start.
Just don't tell the kids in case you don't get called, you don't want to disappoint them.

Some people get called the first year though so who knows.
There are two locations that the same place runs.
Its identical but they do one in North Conway NH and one in Lincoln NH, I would just pick the one closest to you.

You can also buy lodging packages and get tickets through some of them but I imagine they are expensive, the tickets themselves are $40.00 $50.00 $60.00 depending on the train you want .
I picked the one with the tables and all that and that one serves hot chocolate and you get a gift from santa.

The elf I bought at the store, I see them all over the place at the specialty toy stores, hallmarks and gift shops.
The story goes:
You are suppose to name your elf when you get it and the kids are not suppose to play with or handle him or he will lose his magic.

 

[redhen]

Thank you so much for all your help with this!...

..

 

[the simple life]

No problem, I really hope you get to go.

 

[purr]

I bookmarked that link am going to bring my grandchildren if I get picked
It sounds wonderfull hope the weather doesn't spoil your plans
Still snowing here on the south coast and have a foot already

 

[momofdrew]

I hope you have a wonderful time A friend of mine won tickets a couple of years ago when her kids where 8, 8 & 9

I wish I had heard of the elf when my kids were little...that would have been fun...

it is still snowing here but the wind has died down,,, about 8 inches so far...just shoveled a path to the coop so I could give them warm water...They were not the least bit interested in leaving the run...they have lots of scratch & suet to keep them busy...