{"id":626,"date":"2015-11-24T17:27:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-24T17:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=626"},"modified":"2015-11-24T17:27:27","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T17:27:27","slug":"the-polar-express","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=626","title":{"rendered":"The Polar Express"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last Friday evening we took a trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express. In case neither one of the faithful readers know the story, one Christmas Eve many years ago, a boy went to bed after being told by a friend that Santa didn\u2019t exist. He listened for the bells of Santa\u2019s sleigh, but he heard something different, looked out the window and saw a steam engine parked on the lawn. The conductor invited him to board the Polar Express \u2014 a train filled with children on their way to the North Pole. The train took the children to the center of the city where Santa and the elves had gathered for the giving of the first gift of Christmas. The boy was chosen to receive this first gift. Even though he could choose anything in the world, he decided on a simple gift \u2014 one silver bell from Santa\u2019s sleigh. Santa cut a bell from a reindeer\u2019s harness and the boy slipped it into his bathrobe pocket just as the clock struck midnight and the reindeer pulled Santa and his sleigh into the sky. When all the children got back on the train, the boy realized the bell had fallen through a hole in his pocket. On Christmas morning, his little sister found a small box with the boy\u2019s name on it among the presents. Inside was the silver bell. The boy and his sister were enchanted by the bell\u2019s beautiful sound, but their parents couldn\u2019t hear it. The boy continued to believe in the spirit of Christmas and was able to hear the ringing of the bell even as an adult.<\/p>\n

The book was read during the train trip and when we got to the North pole, Santa boarded the train and talked with everyone \u2014 and those that believed, got a silver bell!! Emily seemed to have had a great time, as did all of us.<\/p>\n

The story conveys a great message about believing. A friend of ours has a sign that reads, \u201cEveryone should believe in something; I believe I\u2019ll have another beer.\u201d
\nBut whether we realize it or not, we all believe\u2026. I got a silver bell, and I can hear it ring. Before Santa gave it to me, he asked, \u201cDo you believe?\u201d He didn\u2019t ask if I believed in Santa \u2014 just, \u201cdo you believe?\u201d I answered truthfully \u2014 I do<\/em> believe
\n\u2026 in true love
\n\u2026 that people are in our lives for a reason
\n\u2026 you shouldn\u2019t judge people by their appearance
\n\u2026 that one should never say never
\n\u2026 that life is about choices
\n\u2026 the world is a beautiful place
\nWe all have a list of what we believe in \u2014 the list changes over time, but some things on it don\u2019t.
\nI guess we all need a ride on the Polar Express from time to time to remind us how important it is to believe.
\n\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Friday evening we took a trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express. In case neither one of the faithful readers know the story, one Christmas Eve many years ago, a boy went to bed after being told … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":629,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626\/revisions\/629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}