Three days before Noah visited the North Pole he was watching Elf the
Movie. It's safe to say that Noah has never outgrown his love for
Christmas and Santa is a very important part of his life... year round.
We have always known this about Noah and just
chalk it up to him being a December baby born just two days before
Christmas. Getting Noah to the North Pole has always been a hope and
finally we were able to take him.
Noah is like any other child who is excited about seeing Santa -
gobbled up breakfast quickly - he's now eating four yogurt pouches for
breakfast and were so thankful that the Broadmoor guessed perfectly on
the amount Noah would eat each morning. The weather
is sometimes confusing in Colorado - the mountains can often be about
ten degrees cooler than it is in the foothills so you wind up dressing
half expecting it to be breezy and half warm. The weather was pretty
perfect for Noah, not overly hot or cold which
is great for a child that does not regulate body temperature.
Santa got word that Noah would be visiting and was waiting for him.
The first thing Noah did was head straight to Santa's house to see Ms.
Claus and Santa. Santa waived Noah on from his porch and we went into
his home to visit Santa. And then magic happened,
as it always does when Santa is near. He sang a song to Noah while he
giggled and laughed with delight. Luke, being Noah's translator, told Santa all the things he thinks Noah will want this year under the tree. (Thank goodness for little brother's
who have your back).
We all took a family picture with Santa, and he assured the boys that
he'd be visiting again this year because they are extra good boys.
Noah would have stayed all day, but other children were patiently
waiting to see Santa. So, Santa asked Noah to stop back
by to say goodbye before he left. The North Pole has a lot of big
hills and we certainly got a good work out on all these massive paved
hills. I think Noah found it amusing. We rode the North Pole train,
visited all the gift shops, caught a magic show, and had lunch at a
concession stand.
It was the first time Luke had
ever had funnel cakes (we don't get out much), and the boys seen their
first reindeer... (well sort of).
Santa's reindeer were blocked off
with screened tarp because they were waiting on an inspection. I'm not
entirely sure why but I we could see them through a fence crack and I
zoomed in for a picture. Also caught what I think was maybe a glimpse
of a molting llama or an alpaca... or maybe a big reindeer that was
simply having a horrific hair day. And it was pretty stinky so we
couldn't stay long. Noah has a really hard time around overwhelming
smells of poo and sewer. Makes him gag tremendously. So to say the
least, we couldn't feed the reindeer. But that's okay. Santa knows we
still care very deeply about all the reindeer that help guide his sleigh
each year.
Neither Noah or Luke was really
interested in the rides at the North Pole. Luke is a very cautious
child and would look at each ride and tell us he was declaring it
"unsafe." It's so funny to have a five year old child assessing the
safety of everything but he always errs on the side of caution if he has
any doubts. I imagine that had a lot to do with his assessment that
there were no accessible rides that he could see that would allow Noah
to remain in his wheelchair.
But even though we
didn't ride any of the amusement park rides, we still had a wonderful
time. Noah and Luke both got to touch the North Pole which is really
frozen ice and super cold, we had lunch, we all got some good exercise
on Pike's Peak, and were able to put in our Christmas lists early.
Noah
said goodbye to Santa when we were leaving the North Pole. Santa held
his hand and gave him a kiss on the cheek (yes ONLY Santa gets to do
that because of germs!) I tend to jump on anyone else who
touches Noah because he's so medically fragile. Santa told him he'd see him in a few months. Noah gave such a eager
look of anticipation.
We headed down off the
mountain and told Noah we would do our very best to find a way to get
him back to the North Pole again someday.
Believe in love. Believe in magic. Hell, believe in Santa Clause. Believe in others. Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams
Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/j/jonbonjovi394102.html
"Believe
in love. Believe in magic. Believe in Santa Clause. Believe in others.
Believe in yourself. Believe in your dreams." Jon Bon Jovi
PS. Dear Noah, today you lost your 3rd tooth today... and swallowed it... don't worry I'm sure Santa and the Tooth Fairy have your back :)
Love,
Noah's Miracle by
Stacy Warden is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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