The Polar Express comes to life in New England

This year some 20,000 people from the New England area, and as far away as the West Coast, Ireland and Canada, bought tickets for a trip to the North Pole aboard the Polar Express train. (Tickets sell out in October each year through a lottery system, and people pay an arm and a leg to get on this train!!) Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and pajama-clad children of all ages board the train on weekends in December for a ride that winds through the White Mountains, heading for the North Pole to see Santa Claus. The trip is modeled after the classic Christmas book "The Polar Express" by Chris Van Allsburg, and includes all of the story's sweetest details, right down to the hot chocolate "as thick and rich as melted chocolate bars". The piece starts out with a boarding call at the train depot, and includes all the sounds from the journey - the train's whistle, the hiss of the engines chugging down the tracks, an interview with a special cocoa chef, excerpts from a storyteller's rendition of the book, and a visit from Santa.