The best moment of Christmas was found in my little boy. For months he has talked about trains. There was a huge Thomas train set in a shop downtown. Everytime we visited, he would sit in awe playing with the trains and was in agony when we left. He would find every picture of a train in every book we owned and look at them every day. I then thought it would be such a blessing if Santa could bring him a train set for Christmas.
Some weeks before, I got out the Polar Express dvd. I couldn't wait to show him and he is old enough now to sit and watch. We got into our pajamas on a cold winter night and snuggled up to watch the movie. When the train came on, he grabbed my arm, looked up at me, eyes wide, he whispered in sheer delight...."A train mamma!"
Oh, it was magical.
The excitement began to build as Christmas came closer. On Christmas Eve, during gift exchange, he opened up his present from Anna, three real trains. He could hardly pick them up in his hands to lift them up in the air and show me and squeal, "I got a train!".
In his tight red robe we put him in bed, trains and all, he fell asleep holding them tight. Christmas morning he stuffed them in his pockets as we all lined up to head downstairs. I think I must have been the most excited that morning, at 27 years old.
The first thing Nicholas saw, was the toy of his dreams, a big train track. He immediately yanked the trains from his pockets and put them on the tracks and said it was The Polar Express. He didn't leave that train set but for a few short moments to eat and played for hours.
It was his pure joy at receiving a gift, it was mine to be able to share in it, it made Andrew and I's Christmas.
