I am excited to share with you a fun way to get out and see your communities Christmas lights this year! We call it The Minivan Express, aka The Polar Express in your Minivan! One of my favorite traditions we do as a family is read or sometimes watch the polar express. Another one we love to do is drive around and look at all the beautiful Christmas lights. My husband is a Christmas light guy, so I think he likes to finally drive around and look at all the jobs he has done. A few years ago I heard about a fun family tradition from a friend where they would do something called the Polar Express Night. They would put the kids to bed and then wake them up by shouting “All Aboard The Polar (or Minivan) Express)”, they even had little tickets to give their kids for the dads to punch! I knew this would be a tradition my kids would love!
Last year we did this and it was a blast. We read the Polar Express story and put the kids to bed (early, like 8:00). I had bought coffee cups at the gas station with the lids on them for like 25 cents. I went and got the Hot Chocolate ready, while my husband got the van warmed up, turned on some fun Christmas music and we then blew the train whistle and gave them their tickets telling them to get to the car in 2 minutes with a warm blanket and pillow! The kids were shocked! They thought it was fun when their dad punched their tickets with the whole punch and tried to make words! We loaded up for a little fun ride to see all the Christmas lights around town! Our city does a really fun thing where they have marked on a map on the cities website where the most extravagant Christmas lights can be found. I’m not sure if you’re city is like that but either way you can go anywhere to see beautiful Christmas lights! It just nice to drive through regular neighborhoods to see what other families have done with their Christmas lights.
We are doing this again this week and my kids are all wondering when it will happen. My son keeps hoping that each night the book we read is the Polar Express. You can make this Christmas tradition very simple. I’ve already made these tickets for you to just print and your are ready! 
The Polar Express – All Aboard the Minivan Express
Here are the tickets I made. On the bottom is a little poem that says…
“Hurry now and don’t be slow it’s time to look at the lights all aglow.
Grab your coat and a blanket to stay warm. We’ll drive around the city to see all it’s charm.
We’ll listen to music and drink hot cocoa. And if you are lucky it might even snow.
We’ll have so much fun on the Minivan Express. You won’t be disappointed, it’s sure to impress!”
Last year my sister told me about a fun tradition of doing a Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt. You can do it with your own family and just go find what is on the list, or you can challenge another family and see who finds all the things on the list the fastest! Head over to The Mama Birds to see her post HERE with a printable of the scavenger hunt! It would be something fun to do to add to your Mini-Van Express ride!
