Proving Chaos Theory: From The North Pole to the Beach

Oh, what a joy it is to live in California, especially during the winter! The song "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" has taken on a new meaning in the decade I've lived in Southern California. If you're familiar with the actual verse of the song, and not just the more frequently sung "I'm
Dreaming..." chorus, you'll recall that the song starts by talking about the sunshine, green grass and orange and palm trees of Los Angeles, and that the White Christmas is truly just a figment of the imagination. As much as I enjoy seeing family members in colder climes at Christmas, I am very content with keeping the White Christmas itself solidly in the land of dreams. I'll take the 75 degree weather and palm trees in December, thank you very much.

This year Jaime's family gathered back to California for Christmas. So one night this week we took Kate and three of her cousins and their families out to the small town of Fillmore to ride the North Pole Express operated by the Fillmore & Western Railway Co. Its a fully functioning historic railway that operates year round. At Halloween, you can take the Pumpkinliner Train to pick a pumpkin from the patch, or the Headless Horseman Express for a Halloween fright night. There are Mothers Day trains, Fathers Day trains, Easter lunch trains, etc., etc. . . . We opted for the North Pole Express, which takes guests up to pick up Santa. Kate and her cousins Sydney and Ethan came in their pajamas, ready to see the jolly fat man himself.

Preparing to board the North Pole Express

Once aboard, we tried for several minutes to get the kids to stop jumping up and down on the seats. Finally we told them if they didn't hold on to their tickets the conductor would throw them off the train. They quickly sat down, found their tickets and gripped them tightly.

Kate showing off her skill at reading upside down

Once the train was underway and the conductor made his rounds punching tickets, the two elves manning our train car told the kids that it was story time, and started passing out milk and very crumbly cookies to all of us. Elf #1 then picked up the microphone and started reading The Night Before Christmas to us with all of the dramatic phrasing and interpretation you'd expect from a teen-aged girl doing court-ordered community service. The children couldn't have cared less about the story; they were too busy looking out the train window at the blinking red dot far away on the top of the mountain, which the elves assured them was Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer flying alongside the train. Well played, elves.

Eventually we arrived at the North Pole Station, and there on the platform were Santa, Mrs. Claus and a few of their other elves. Santa boarded the train, and we were off again, headed back to Fillmore. Elf #2 grabbed the microphone while Elf #1 passed out printed lyrics to Christmas Carols, and the two elves led our train car in song. Elf #2 had slightly more energy than Elf #1, but no more rhythm or sense of timing, and neither one could carry a tune in a bucket. We labored through some painful carols, and we instead focused on the looks of amazement on the kids faces when they saw Santa walk through the door into our train car.

Santa came through the car, speaking with each child, giving them candy canes and asking them what they wanted for Christmas. Santa was the real deal, complete with a real, white beard. Kate was, of course, afraid of Santa, but Ethan and Sydney both talked with him and probably would have gone home with him had he asked. Kate kept her distance but afterward seemed to be very excited to have seen him.

Santa is OK, as long as Dad is close by

The kids had a great time and, all in all, I give Fillmore and Western Railway Co. a thumbs up. I can't say I plan to go back for the Fathers Day ride, however . . .

Later this week, when Kate was playing with stickers, Jaime asked her if Davis might want one too. Kate replied that Davis DID want a sticker and headed over to give one to him. When Jaime returned from putting the clothes in the dryer, she found this:

"I didn't sign up for this."

As you can see, Kate was very pleased with herself and how generous she had been with her brother.

Finally, for those of you who expect to have a White Christmas, while we won't be able to have a snowball fight here, here are a few shots of what we'll be able to do on December 25. A bunch of Jaime's family members went down to Point Dume beach yesterday. Not warm enough to swim, but just sayin' . . .