Holiday Train Ride

We’ve had a very busy start to this Christmas week. We’ve had some fun, for the most part. But before I get to the pictures, here are a few of the latest things I want to remember about the holidays with 2-year-old Eli:

-When we sing Rudolph, “Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say… NO NO NO! (instead of Ho Ho Ho!)” – perfect since NO is often his favorite word :) He says it jokingly in the song though.

-Eli likes to wear his Santa hat and ask us what we want for Christmas. He loves pretending to be Santa and fulfilling our wishes (so we ask for things that are around the room, like a toy car, an Elmo bucket, etc.).

Now for the pictures. On Monday, I took the boys on the train into the city to meet Ben at his office. This was no easy endeavor. I was trying to take a 3:50 p.m. train, which meant leaving the house by 3:30 or a little after since I needed to buy my ticket too. At that point in the afternoon, Eli is never reasonable (since he hasn’t napped) and Monday was no exception. He was crying, throwing himself on the floor, refusing to let me help him get his coat and shoes on… it was not a pretty sight. But somehow, I got my kids out the door, RAN in the freezing cold to the train station five blocks from our house, and missed the train by two minutes.

So we waited 10 more minutes for the next train to arrive.

When the next train arrived, it was pretty empty. But as we went along, the train filled up and I felt very awkward with my big stroller in the aisle.

This was Charlie’s face through the entire train ride. He was captivated with the sights out the window as we zoomed past them.

And about 10 minutes from the stop near Ben’s office, Eli fell asleep. I tried waking him up, but he was totally out. Once we got to the stop, I had to scoop up my dead-weight, sleeping Eli, try to push the stroller around people’s feet and get us out of the doors (that were closing as we walked out – the el is ruthless) as fast as possible. I had called Ben to let him know we were almost there, so he ran out and met us. Which was vital to the plan, because this el stop has no elevator, just long, steep stairs to get down to the street level. Eli slowly woke up and was pretty out of it, and started crying when we first tried having him walk down holding my hand (while I was also holding Charlie) and Ben was carrying the stroller. Ahhh the logistics of it all!

Like I mentioned earlier, I had missed the train I had hoped to catch, so by the time we made it into Ben’s office, most of the guys had left for the day. But I got to meet two of them and see where Ben works, which was fun.

This picture is blurry, but it gives you a better view of his desk – gotta love the five computer screens that are at each person’s space.

Here are the boys in front of the big Christmas tree in the lobby of Ben’s building:

This was probably my favorite part of the evening – we were walking toward the large Macy’s on State Street (formerly Marshall Field’s – I hate calling it Macy’s), and Eli was riding in the back of the stroller, looking around as we walked. All of the sudden he said, “It’s nice to see you, art.”

Sure enough, we looked down the street, through some buildings and a few blocks away, was this Picasso, which is featured in the book, Good Night Chicago. Ben and I couldn’t believe that he recognized it and that he said the line just as it is in the book. So funny. We decided to walk over to it and give Eli a better view, which he loved.

Once we got to Macy’s, we joined the crowds and walked around the building, enjoying the holiday windows. This year’s theme was Santa’s workshop. Eli liked watching the moving parts and seeing Santa in the windows.

Here’s all the letters sent to Santa:

We went inside to warm up a little and admired the famous tree in the Walnut Room on the 7th floor. We didn’t have the time or energy to wait for a table at the restaurant, but it was fun to see the huge, beautiful tree.

Then we raced to the closest el stop to catch the express train home (which really isn’t that express, but it does knock some time off the normal trip). Once again, this el stop did not have an elevator, so we left the stroller at the bottom of the stairs, grabbed the kids and all of our stuff and ran up the stairs, then Ben ran back down and brought the stroller back up. The whole thing was pretty draining and made me realize why I don’t take the el with the kids very often. It takes way too long and is tricky with a stroller.

Eli was pretty wiped out and looked like this as he watched out the window:

Now normally, one el train experience with the kids seems like enough for one week, but we returned the next day to see the Holiday Train, which left around 4:30 p.m. Every year, the CTA decks out one long line of cars to go around on the different lines each day and gives kids the chance to ride the Holiday Train. It was complete with an open air train with Santa, his sleigh, and some reindeer and trees.

Santa waved at Eli, but that didn’t satisfy this little boy....

“He didn’t say Ho Ho Ho, Mama!” – Eli said after Santa turned around. It’s okay though, he still had fun seeing him.

Below are some more pictures that show how decked out these train cars were. It’s pretty amazing. I had seen the holiday train in previous years, whizzing by, but I’d never made the effort to ride on it.

I don’t think I would have had it in me to do this one alone, so thankfully some friends met up with us. Here’s Khania and Evelyn (who was also napless and worn out like Eli).

Grant and Stacy:

Leah and Quinton:

Cindy with her kids Owen and Leah, and Quinton too

I loved how much tinsel and red/green lights were everywhere. The el employees were walking around handing out candy canes. Every seat was taken, and it got more crowded with each stop.

Cindy was nice enough to hold Eli for part of the ride. I think he really liked it, despite how his face looks in these pictures :) It was a crazy day because we were having our neighbors over for dinner, so I made the meal before we left for the train, and then came home and tried to finish things up before they arrived. I also had an article due that night, so I ended the day pretty late last night/this morning.

So today I declared it a recovery day from the craziness of the last week. We didn’t go anywhere today, which was especially nice when it started snowing like crazy later on. And at one point in the afternoon, Eli wasn’t napping and Charlie had taken a 40-minute afternoon nap, then screamed every time I tried putting him back down, and just wanted to chew on the top of the Tylenol bottle because he has a new tooth coming in… so I plopped them both on the couch and turned on Little Einstein’s. I had peace for about 20 minutes, which was a big relief.

And finally, here is a picture of our sad Christmas tree, that can’t seem to stay standing straight (we need a new tree stand – any suggestions of a good one??) and the tree is pretty much dead, despite the fact that there is water in the stand. Oh well! Just two more days and we can put it outside on the curb.

My mom has Eli’s stocking because she’s making one for Charlie too (and wanted to make his about the same size as Eli’s). I’m excited to see it tomorrow! Eli is VERY excited about Santa coming – it’s going to be a fun Christmas.