Santa Train

Yesterday we had an absolutely fantastic time going to see Father Christmas at the Tanfield Railway.

Anyone who lives near me and has never been - its fantastic! Get booked for next year (in May!) and give it a go. You go on a steam train through glorious countryside to the 'North Pole' and see Santa then get plied with refreshments (that you paid for in May so they feel free) then back again on the train. Our friends and ourselves got a carriage to ourselves, with a hilarious Christmas tree light in a jam jar for on the way back when it was pitch black.

We did have a little blip. Florence had seen other kids coming out of santa's grotto with Furry rabbits, Rosie got a Furry Rabbit, and Flo got.... a colouring book. Oops Santa... Now, I'm trying to bring up my kids to be unmaterialistic and unspoiled, but even I could empathise with her in her disappointment, I remember one time, in fact there were oodles but one in particular stands out, when my grandparents got my sister a cute cuddly cow that really mooed and I got a box because I was a 'Big Girl'. A very nice box, but a container nonetheless, not a cuddly cow, and certainly not one that mooed. And I was, ahem, about 13, not five like Florence! She was gutted.

So despite the fact that it went against all my principles, because its so much harder in real life when its happening to my offspring, and said offspring's heart is breaking, I was immensely relieved when my good and bolshie 'shy bairns get nowt' mate T asked the elf if she could swap, and the lovely lovely elf was delighted to oblige. Phewee. I think Florence and the resultant Rabbit are going to have to be surgically separated for school tomorrow.