Yes Ethan, there is a Santa Clause

Ethan has always been our train lover. He loves everything about trains! This past Fall we were up in Dallas visiting my brother, Bruce, and his family when Ethan discovered the "BIG" trains- GEO tracks. He was obsessed by it. When Christmas came along all he wanted was a "BIG" train. Unfortunately, those "BIG" trains cost bigger money! He has a nice wooden set, so we decided to get him more pieces for it, including a nice suspension bridge and all. All season he would point to the gifts under the tree, excitedly exclaiming, "that's my BIG train!". I cringed every time, hoping he would be excited about a new train set, no matter what it was. Well, Christmas morning came and he was ecstatic! Here is a picture of him when he opened his train set. He was trying SO hard to be happy about it, honestly he was. Nice look, huh?! He would keep saying, before each present he opened...."Oh this is my big train set!" And nope, it wasn't.

After gifts were all opened, he was somewhat disappointed and needless to say, I felt awful!!!!!!! He really really wanted a big train set! What made me feel even worse was that he was being so good, so brave about it. He never complained, but I could see the dissapointment on his face. I mentioned this to my parents over the phone, who at the time were in Dallas with Bruce for Christmas. Well, later that night my nephew, Blake, called and told me that he was going to give Ethan his "BIG" train set, since he no longer played with it. I was so taken back by this! I started to cry, yes-I did. I couldn't help it...this was the best part of Christmas, this is what made Christmas for me this year. Needless to say, when Gpa. and Gma. Romney came down from Dallas to visit us for New Year's, Ethan was splitting at the seams, bouncing off the walls! He couldn't wait to see the new "BIG" train. As soon as Gpa. opened his suitcase and started pulling out the pieces to the set, Ethan turned to me and said "See, I did get my BIG train for Christmas!"

I'd say he's a little excited, wouldn't you? Yes Ethan, and to myself, there is a Santa Clause. Thank you Blake, I will never forget this.