The Salvation Army, in conjunction with the Marines and CalTrain, had a special train running at night this past weekend (Dec 8 & 9, 2001). The Train for Tots stopped at selected stations between San Francisco and San Jose. Volunteers from the local Marine Corps collected toys for the Toys for Tots program on the station platforms.
When the train arrived, carolers sang holiday music, accompanied by a Salvation Army band. Various holiday figures including "elves", a decorated tree character, and a giant snowman, wandered around interacting with kiddies. No dreidel character, or any Kwanzaa characters, but hey, you can't have everything!
I gave my stuffed lion that I've had on my bookshelf for many years, after dusting it off. A very nice lady Marine said "oh my gosh, you're not giving away your best friend are you?!" I told her it was time for Lion to move on, but I'm keeping the panda bear that I got during my freshman year of college. ;-)
I clearly have a lot to learn about photographing lights at night, but I got a few mostly decent pix out of the evening! I love those kids in the reindeer antler hats. There were babies out in those cute animal-ear hoods, too, but I didn't get any pictures. What is it about kids that they look cuter when they're dressed up as wild animals? Must be something about their inner natures. :-)
