Christmas already? Really?

So at the railroad we do this trip called the Polar Express, which is sort of like the Polar Express book story. In all honesty, for a kid this train is kind of awesome! You get to come in your pajamas and go to the "North Pole" and see "Santa" who then comes on the train and presents you with a little silver bell. Kids on this train have a friggin' awesome time and eat too many cookies and drink too much hot chocolate and get to stay up past bedtime and have all the great kid-type experiences that Christmas is all about. Everyone loves this train.

From behind the scenes, things can look a little crazy. First of all, the tickets go on sale in late spring and PEOPLE BUY THEM THEN. What IS it with parents and their seeming OBSESSION with creating childhood experiences for their children? Some of the kids who come on this train are like 2 years old and younger with a bunch of adults. Do they even know what's going on? Will they ever remember what happened that night? Probably not - the parents do it mostly for themselves so they can have pictures to show their kids later in life to prove to them they were good parents. Is that a little...cynical?

Anyway the moral of the story is I have a bajillion people calling and asking me if trains are REALLY sold out because omigod a pig came from space and they forgot to call and reserve when we still had tickets available on weekends because omigod a dinosaur will terrorize them if they took off from work to come on a Wednesday or a Thursday or Sunday. Um...yes. Yes they are. Everyone knows that when trains and planes and automobiles "sell out" the organization running them doesn't sell every single seat - because it's bad for business when someone comes with Grandma on the night of the train and we have to say "sorry 89-year-old woman with cancer who just wants to see her grandchild on this train before she dies, we don't have any seats for you." So YES, person who just forgot that the tickets sold out early, the train IS sold out for you. It's sold out for you so what's-her-name who ALREADY HAS RESERVATIONS can add on her son who's home unexpectedly from Iraq, and so what's-his-name who ALREADY HAS RESERVATIONS can add on his niece who's staying with them for Christmas because her mom's in jail. But people don't think about all the other people on the train who also have families and friends and wishes and dreams...they only think about themselves. What is consumer culture doing to us? MESSING SHIT UP, KIDS. THAT'S WHAT IT'S DOING.

The point is when you decide you want something and can't get it, go find another thing to want. Think about the other people who are going to have the experience you wanted and wish them well, rather than wallow in disappointment that you can't have that. You can have another thing. Hell, with a little creativity, you can have a better thing!

Merry friggin' Christmas. OH WAIT, IT'S NOT THANKSGIVING YET.

...help?