Carriage Ride and More Christmas Fun

I had heard about a store in a neighboring town that gives horse drawn carriage rides for free during the Christmas season. So, off we went to enjoy a ride on Saturday afternoon. We waited about 15 minutes for our turn and then jumped the line because they needed a small party to fill the carriage. It was great! Benjamin loved the ride and even got to pet the horse after. Then, we went into the store. It was a child's paradise. They had trains on tracks all around the ceiling of one huge showroom, and we found Santa at the North Pole in the back. The line was extremely long and Benjamin has already had a few visits with Santa (I think 4 or 5) so, we just got him some candy from the candy river, a balloon, and took his picture in front of the tree. The greatest thing about visiting with this Santa was they take digital photographs for free of your child on Santa's lap. They print out the photo and put it in a cardboard sleeve while you wait. It is something that we will have to do next year for sure. On the way out, they had a large climb on train for the children to play on. This was Benjamin's favorite, and he ran up the stairs to drive the train. Other benefits were free popcorn, hot chocolate, and apple cider. There was even a train that took children for rides around the outside of the store, but it wasn't running when we were there. It was literally a North Pole experience, with furniture sales included. Visiting the store will become a family tradition. It was fabulous! Here are a few pictures of all the fun.