Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Like most people, we keep a series of ritual events leading up to Christmas. There was Thanksgiving, St Nicholas, Christmas markets, the end of term carol concert, the Advent calendar, putting up the tree, decorating the house,and now, the Santa Special steam train on the Nene Valley Railway. We have been doing it for years, but we still love it.

This year it was extra special because of the snow. We joined our neighbours, the Lambtons, on the platform, in the queue for Santa's Waiting Room. Of course, Dan doesn't do queues, but he only got as far as the clown who always entertains the crowds with his antics. Dan was splitting his sides.

Thomas the Tank Engine was standing by the platform whenever the Santa Special was away on a trip to Peterborough, puffing out clouds of nostalgic, photogenic steam.

The train we ride on is a bit of a hybrid. Most of the carriages come from, East Germany (they starred in James Bond's Gold@@@@ ) but the engine is ex- British Rail. Its all tremendous fun because the kids are wound as tight as their parents can stand and the railway volunteers are genuinely excited about giving us all a good time. The Fat Controller (Sir Topham Hat) has been doing it for about 30 years. Santa was excellent, and so were his helpers who plied is with booze and mince pies.

It's simply magic. Not too sophisticated, but totally sincere.

So what's next? Well tomorrow night we are going to a pantomime (Aladdin) then on Christmas Eve, if the weather allows, we will go to Ely Cathedral for the carol service.

It is snowing quite heavily right now, and more roads are getting blocked by the minute. A white Christmas is a real possibility.