5 Ugly Christmas Sweaters to Impress Your In-Laws

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Who doesn’t love their in-laws? I know I do. You can get away with saying things you typically couldn’t get away with saying to your own mom and dad. They’re great to have a few drinks with and to share stories about how you use to have their daughter sneak out and meet her future husband and… Maybe we’ll wait on that story. Anyways, St. Louis Dad has done some digging to find that perfect Christmas sweater to wear this year at your in-laws holiday party. What I found was a classy selection of fine Christmas sweaters set to impress all of your family over at RockWorldEast.com. The selection is minimal but executed perfectly. These are my five favorite ugly Christmas sweaters.

#5 – The Beer Bear Deer Brown

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This sweater is as majestic as it looks. The bear with the deer antlers is a Christmas dream. Plus what holiday isn’t complete without someone needing to go for another beer run? This sweater also comes in blue but I like the brown a little more. Plus it’s fun trying to say Beer Bear Deer Brown five times really fast while taking a drink.

#4 – Happy Hanukkah

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Not everyone can be into the Christmas thing, some have eight crazy nights to have to deal with their family. Take it from Adam Sandler and his famous Hanukkah song and drink your gin & tonica while wearing this awesome Hanukkah sweater! If you decide to wear it all eight nights be sure to let us know in the comments!

#3 – Meowy Catmas

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Awwww. Even if you really don’t like cats you can’t say this ain’t the cutest little kitten ever. This sweater would be purrrfect to wear with your dog loving family. Meowy Catmas to all, just put away the tinsel!

#2 – Merry F**king Christmas

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Not everyone is going to be filled with holiday cheer this year. Why not help them out and Grinch it up spreading that passive aggressive Christmas jeer! Merry f**king Christmas Glenn. I hope you have a sh**ty New Year!

#1 – Merry Christmas Ya Filthy Animal

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This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first Home Alone movie. Which also marks the 25th anniversary of Angels with Filthy Souls. What better way to tell them you love them then by rocking this Christmas classic… I can tell you a better way, by getting their new grandchild a matching onesie!

Bonus – Kevin McCallister’s Stocking Hat!

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Why be Batman when you can be Kevin McCallister? Annoy your wife and relive your nineties childhood and setup elaborate death traps this holiday season. Stop the Wet Bandits and further your child’s STEM knowledge at the same time.

Rock World East has several more fantastic Ugly Christmas Sweaters just waiting for you to check out. Head on over to their Ugly Christmas Sweater section and get ready to dress to impress this holiday!

All Aboard The Polar Express!

IMG_1779The Polar Express rolled into St. Louis again this year and this past weekend my family and I had the opportunity to go downtown to Union Station and experience the fun. Our Sunday night consisted of the Magical Holiday Dinner & Show as well as The Polar Express train ride. The dinner and show started at 5PM and the train ride was at 6:30PM. We had planned everything perfectly and the timing could not have been more perfect.

We left our house at 4PM and arrived at Union Station at 4:30PM. We weren’t exactly sure what the procedure was so when we stepped into the mall we asked the kindest little elf which way we needed to go. She was so helpful and got us on our way. If you are going to the dinner and the train ride I would highly recommend getting to Union Station at least 30 minutes before your dinner starts so you can park and also get in and get your boarding pass and tickets ready for the train ride before you eat. There will be many more people just riding the train and not eating dinner so it will save you time after you eat so you don’t have to get your passes.

IMG_1684After getting our boarding passes we took a few photos and then headed down to the Union Station Hotel’s Grand Hall for the Magical Holiday Dinner & Show. This was essentially a buffet style dinner with a plethora of food choices all set in the Union Station Hotel grand hall. The ceiling was lit up with a colorful light show set to an exciting soundtrack of holiday music. The buffet food was really good. As a picky eater there was plenty of food that I really enjoyed. There was also a good amount of choices for those that are not as choosey as I am. The kids had chicken strips, mini cheeseburgers, corn dogs, tator-tots, and mac and cheese. It was all so good. Along with a dessert tablet filled with cookies, candies, cupcakes and more… We definitely got our fill of food and got to enjoy an amazing show filled with lights and sound. If you are hungry for a buffet style dinner with a great selection of options I highly recommend checking out this awesome Magical Holiday Dinner & Show before your ride on the Polar Express. My wife and kids had a fantastic experience and with the courtesy presented by the Union Station staff I would love to do it again this year.


IMG_1701After we got our fill at dinner we headed back down to where you get your boarding passes and did some of the cool activities there before our train was set to depart. My recommendation is that if you are not getting the dinner and will just be riding the train, get to Union Station about 60-90 minutes before your boarding time. This will allow you plenty of time to do all of the fun activities available. We planned it out perfectly and while there were many more people at the depot than when we were there earlier, we still had plenty of time to write a letter to Santa and mail it off. We also took some cute pictures, and also checked out the balloon artist. The kids had a blast running around and checking out all of the cool activities. Alex seemed a little more interested in the giant blow-up snowman hanging out in the mall more than coloring or writing letters, so we let him run off some steam while we waited to board the train. Once it was time to board the train we lined up with the rest of our train car and waited patiently for our turn to board. 

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We were in the North Pole car this year and followed our elf representative to our car and was seated promptly at our table. There are three class of tickets you can get for the Polar Express train ride. We were fortunate enough to ride in the premium car that had a table. This was nice as it gave us a place to put our hot chocolate as well as our bags and coats that we had with us. With Alex being so little I feel like this really helped us instead of having to have him sit in a regular seat. It gave the kids the ability to move around just a bit without being too constricted to a seat.

Since I mentioned hot chocolate it did not take long for the fun to begin on the train. Almost immediately as everyone was seated the servers started rushing out that hot, hot, chocolate! Because we had premium seats we got our hot coco in a closed cup but it came with an awesome Polar Express mug. I believe the mug is only available for premium and first class tickets, so if you are in coach are looking for a mug you may want to talk with someone in the gift shop about purchasing one.

  Hot hot chocolate! #stlpolarexpress #unionstation #merrychristmas   A video posted by St. Louis Dad (@dadstl) on

 

IMG_1757Anyways, once we got our hot chocolate the conductor came around to make sure everyone’s ticket was punched and once that was finished we were on our way to the North Pole. The train ride started with the story of The Polar Express being read over a loud speaker but with the servers holding up several copies of the book so all the kids could follow along. The servers were amazing. They interacted with all of the children asking them to help turn pages, giving high fives, tickling and making sure everyone was having a good time. Abby and Alex loved when they would rush by singing or holding the story. They gave high fives and were so excited when they would give them some attention.

Once the story ended we stopped at the North Pole and picked up a special passenger, Santa Claus! He came on board and greeted each and every child on the train. He took time to take pictures with everyone and even gave them their first gift of Christmas! A shiny magical Christmas bell. Abby and Alex both loved seeing Santa, with Abby even more excited than all of her previous years of meeting the jolly old man.

IMG_1782Once Santa left our train car we started heading back to Union Station and this is when the fun really started kicking in. There was music and dancing and I think there was even something that was like a conga line. The kids had a blast belting out the Christmas carols and then when songs from the movie Frozen came on, you would have though Queen Elsa herself was on board that train. Every single kid, girl and boy was singing the music from Frozen. It was so cool. I think even my wife Destiny got in on that action. I know she loves to “Let it Go”.

We arrived back to Union Station and unloaded from the train. We browsed through the gift shop and then headed back to our car. Both kids were very tired and ready to go home. All of the fun and excitement from the train just wore them out. Alex was asleep before we even hit the highway and Abby was out pretty much when we got home. It was an amazing evening and a big recommendation for anyone in the St. Louis area to check out the Magical Holiday Dinner & Show as well as The Polar Express train ride. Many memories were made at this event and I hope you and your family has just as an amazing time as we did. Did you ride The Polar Express? Share your experience below, tweet it to me, or share it on my wall!

St. Louis Dad was provided with these products as compensation in exchange for an honest review. Check out the event on Facebook and visit stlpolarexpressride.com to get your tickets before they sell out!

Get Your Texts From Santa!!!

textsfromsantaKeep your children engaged this Santa Claus this Christmas! Starting on December 1st your child will receive a text from Santa every day until Christmas! Each day leading up to Christmas, your child will receive a text message with the inside scoop on what Santa, his Elves, and even his Reindeer are doing to prepare for the big day! You can even upload a photo of your living room and Texts From Santa will deliver a selfie of Santa in your house. Sign up today so you are ready all set for when December 1st rolls around in just a few weeks.

I have found over the last few years that kids know that Santa is serious business and if dad or mom has to call or text Santa about their behavior then they know they must be doing something bad. So how cool would it be to be on the receiving end of the texts from Santa? I think it is pretty awesome and a great way to help keep your kids engaged and on task. You definitely don’t want them ending up on the naughty list!

Visit TextsFromSanta.com to sign up or check out the video below to learn more. If you have any questions please feel free to call 1-877-2409-ELF or email support@textsfromsanta.com.

Celebrate Half Christmas in St. Louis

When I started this blog I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, and when I started getting emails from other dads saying they liked what I wrote, I knew that I was going down the right path. One of the first emails I received was from St. Louis native Ryan Nusbickel. He wanted to give me a shout out to let me know that he enjoyed my blog. He also was kind enough to send me two children’s books that he had written and illustrated. I have been sitting on these books waiting for the right time to post about them… Since today is Half Christmas it seemed like the perfect time to write about one of them in particular.

stlnightbeforechristmasThe St. Louis Night Before Christmas is a fantastic story that takes you on a journey through all of the great locations found in our area. The illustrations are hilarious and fit the theme of the book perfectly. As you can imagine the story is in the style of The Night Before Christmas poem written by Clement Clarke Moore. The rhyming and imagery make this a must own story for anyone familiar with the St. Louis area. Plus it’s not expensive!

My kids thought this book was great. According to my daughter, Santa and her are currently BFF’s, so if she says this is seriously entertaining, then why miss out for another year?

So do yourself a favor this Half Christmas and pick up this excellent book. Ryan’s website is StLouisChildrensBooks.com and NusbickelBooks.com. Either link will take you to the same place. Don’t want to order online? His book is also available in select retail locations. Check out the list here!

“The St. Louis Night Before Christmas is #1 Selling Children’s Book in St Louis For the 2014 Holiday Season” – The St. Louis Post Dispatch