Santa Claus is Coming to Town (on the Red Line)

This is what a blog must be for, when something so weird but of little import or consequence happens to you, you have somewhere to share it.

Yesterday I took public transportation to a craft fair. On my return, I headed down the el stairs (after unfortunately breaking Jason's Chicago Card which I had borrowed; guess I know what his stocking stuffer will be) to wait on the underground platform. Just as I arrived, I was dumbfounded to see a brilliant, twinkling and sparkling train: the CTA Holiday train. Season's Greetings was proclaimed in big sparkly letters across the side. There were bells and I think, Christmas music.

I was pretty overwhelmed by the sight. And there was Santa, looking right at me and wishing me a Merry Christmas, from an open top, flatbed train car. His sleigh sat there, surrounded by elves ringing handbells, chorusing the holiday wishes. I couldn't even smile or wave back, because I was watching totally dumbfounded as the train pulled away and took Santa into the dark tunnel with it. I thought about how dirty his white beard must get riding inside CTA tunnels all day. And when the train goes outside, he must get pretty cold on the elevated tracks. (But I guess he is from the North Pole, so it's probably ok.) They need to warn you about these things. Even this morning, I wondered if it was all real. (These are not my pictures, because I would have had no presence of mind to whip out even my cell phone camera.)