Christmas Time is Here (2016 Edition)

This time last year I was struggling for some blog content so I decided to write up a nice entry on the town Christmas parade and other assorted holiday stuff. That post did way better than I expected as apparently people really enjoyed my commentary on what happens in a small town out in the middle of nowhere in southwest Ohio. So, going off last years post, I felt it appropriate to show off what we did yesterday for a Christmas outing.

This year, there was no town parade as the budget didn't allow for it. So instead we headed down the road to West Chester to a place called Entertrainment Junction which has the largest miniature train display in the world and was doing all kinds of Christmas stuff. For 12 bucks per person, we got an all access ticket which allowed us to visit the train display, the seasonal display, and the North Pole Adventure.

When you first walk in to the train display, it can be a bit overwhelming as there are literally trains everywhere. It starts off in the Civil War with very true to life displays from each era and explains how trains helped America build and their importance in each era. Here's a picture of my son at the beginning of the Civil War section.

I can't remember which time period this is from but I think its the 40s and 50s era America display. As you can tell from the picture, it looks like night. That's because there is a really cool effect that happens as the lights dim down and all the lights in the displays come on.

About halfway through the display, there's an overlook where you can go upstairs and see the nearly the entire train display. It's really an amazing sight. On the overlook as well, there is a display and an interactive history of Coney Island, a local amusement park.

Here's one last picture from the main display, this time towards the end featuring a typical big city downtown and trains running through it along with a functional subway. It's worth going here just through the train display alone and I would have been content with just that but there was tons more.

The next thing on our list was the holiday train display which was a giant room with nothing but Christmas stuff everywhere.

Here's a picture me, my wife and my son that my mom took at the holiday train display entrance, along with a picture of one of the cool displays they had. I took a bunch of other pictures of the displays but this was the best one I could find.

Next thing up was the North Pole adventure. The one thing about this was that it was a little hard to find as you had to go in through the funhouse portion to get to it. The line for Santa was long but was pretty cool as you walked in through a reindeer stable, the elves workshop and into the kitchen where Mrs. Claus was serving fresh sugar cookies. After that, each family got a private audience with Santa.

These were the best pictures from our son's visit with Santa. He told Santa he wanted a GS ball (something from Pokemon), a backpack, and WWE. 

After we were all finished at Entertrainment Junction, we headed over to Jack in the Box for some lunch and then over to the store for a few quick pickups. We got home, I cleaned up the last of the leaves that fell from our trees, and by the time I was done with that, it was time for us to head over and see the Christmas lights at Smith Park in Middletown.

The pictures aren't the best but they're the best my wife could manage as we were driving through the display. My phone ran out of memory halfway through the display but I'm happy we were able to get a picture of the epic Santa's Workshop that was set up. 

This was another fun-filled Christmas themed day. Next Saturday, we're all going out again to celebrate my birthday so expect a full report on that. Hope everyone has a great Christmas and a great holiday season if you don't celebrate Christmas. To close out, as I did last year, here's a song that I think really sets the mood for the season:

Christmas Time Is Here!

The Ohio town where I live is a quaint, country town that is pretty much the epitome of the small town America that John Mellencamp describes in his song "Small Town". Yesterday was the annual Christmas celebration that consisted of a parade, a visit from Santa, and a tree lighting in the center of town. So, instead of cards today, I thought that I would share a few photos from the parade and some of our Christmas decor to help maybe get others in the holiday spirit as well.

It was a cold, foggy afternoon but the holiday spirit was out in full force with the parade traveling down the main road through town and businesses along the route participating by handing out candy canes, goodie bags, and even free hot chocolate. We nabbed a spot to watch the parade from the car since it was too cold to stand on the side of the road.

Trenton's finest led the parade followed by the color guard.

We've got lots of pizza joints in town (but then again so does any small town) but the local Domino's is the one that's most active in the community. They're always sponsoring and supporting the school teams and during the community yard sales in the spring, they sell pizzas at the corner of the main intersection for $5 each.

A local business on the left with a band in the back of the truck playing Christmas songs. On the right, somehow the Grinch snuck into the parade with this sweet car.

These horses were pretty cool to see. The trailer on the right are members of the local Moose lodge waving to the crowd and inviting everyone to the after party later that night.

Here's the main attraction, Santa riding into town on an old fire engine! I couldn't get a good shot unfortunately.

After the parade, we went over to the farm market where Santa was waiting to greet everyone and take free pictures. This was the line to get in.

Here's my two year old son Jamie with Santa. The last few times we've took him to see Santa, he never really liked it or was scared. This year, he really enjoyed it and actually told Santa what he wanted for Christmas!

As far as our house, here's a few pictures of how we decorated this year

A big Christmas "Hello!" from Mr. Snowman!

The heart of our display, inflatable Snoopy, light-up Rudolph with a blinking nose, candy canes lining out sidewalk, and a small, light-up Snoopy that stopped working after the rain we had a week or so ago.

You've heard of the Fantastic Mr. Fox? Meet the Fantastic Inflatable Mr. Fox!

As I mentioned, Snoopy stopped working after it rained really hard one night. One of the bulbs got water in it and shorted out.

Our tree! It's not as big as the Griswold family Christmas tree but it'll do for our little house. I'm hoping for lots of cards under the tree come Christmas morning!

Just to close it out, here's a song that I think represents the season really well from one of my favorite Christmas specials A Charlie Brown Christmas:

Even if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful and happy holiday season.

Thanks for reading ... tomorrow, more cards!