Not Riding the Railrunner

It's Christmastime at the Payne house! Marianne was the honored one to put up the star.

 I heard on the radio about the NM Railrunner and the Santa Fe Depot having a Santa's Village. Rus and I decided to take the kids and my parents were able to come, too. Here we are, SO excitedly awaiting our train...

 Marianne wore her adorable "conductor clothes."

 Unfortunately, when the train came it was PACKED. Seriously. Sardines. There was no way we were getting on it. The kids were devastated, there was weeping and wailing...So we decided to just drive up. We beat the train, which was a good thing, because then the line for Santa was almost nill. I really loved it when my mom asked a kid in the parking garage elevator if he was excited to see Santa, and he said, "You know he's not real, right?" The kid was maybe five. His mom got after him. Awesome.
Well we were excited to see Santa.

 Marianne was initially frightened of Santa, even though she called him her "soft snuggly friend." She quickly warmed up. Jacob refused to take the picture with us. He was a little disappointed about his decision when he realized a candy cane was involved in the picture taking...

 We were also able to beat the crowds to the mini train - aka the lawnmower. Marianne wouldn't ride without Rus. Like a gorilla on a matchbox car.

 As we waited for Rus to finish his joyride, we saw the train pull in. And then we watched for 15 minutes as the train emptied and the crowds poured out. Steady stream for 15 minutes.
After that the whole thing was a bust. There were too many people and Rus was intolerable. He gets so cranky around the masses.
I am still happy that we were able to hang out with my parents...
Merry Christmas!