Santa's joke on us... the train!

Last year, Santa left this nifty little "Holiday Express" train under our Christmas tree on Christmas morning. It's pretty cool, actually.

The train came with a remote control, a sturdy set of tracks and 6 cars. Little elves sit on all the cars and do different activities on most of the cars. The tracks aren't super long, maybe __ feet, but they have been able to withstand the hands of 3 little people who like to arrange, rearrange, and drive the train through its course.

Last January, we put the train away with all of the holiday decorations. We told the kids we'd pull it out again when we decorated for Christmas this year, so we did.

At first - it was pure excitement. Then, the excitement led to TOO much excitement and 3 little people all wanting to control/drive the train or manage where signs were put, or the order the cars were in, and so on.

I kid you not... this darn train must have been THE source of 582 arguments the day Dan set it up. And, 205 arguments the next day. As time passed... so did interest in the train of course. I think by the time Christmas arrived, that poor train was long forgotten and had not been touched in 2 weeks.

While I love the wonder and joy it brings to the house/kids when we first pull it out of storage, along with all the other Christmas decorations.... Dan would argue that the time spent taking it out of storage, managing the arguments on the first few days, and then disassembling and packing it back up for storage make it a torturous Santa gift!