The VIP Parlor Car on the Polar Express has 4 separate rooms. Two of the rooms are seating areas. One seats about 23 people and the other 11. Each section is heated by propane heaters. The smaller section has one mounted on the back wall and it has a thermostat.

Sugar Cookie and I were teaching the Campbell’s Soup condensed version of the “Twelve Days of Christmas” with choreography to the passengers on Saturday night. We had an incredibly fun and interactive crowd on this run, and they were really getting into it with us. Well, I happened to be performing closest to the wall mounted heater and Sugar Cookie was at the opposite end of this small room. We had finished teaching the song and were now singing it through one time. My backside was towards the heater. Just as we got to “Six Geese a laying” the wall heater came on.

Did you know that an elf portraying a goose laying is capable of flying?

Well, this one went flying down the aisle trying to cool down her backside. Everyone began roaring in laughter, me included. Sugar Cookie (Allyson Lambert) told me the look on my face was priceless. The guests and I began cracking jokes about this spontaneous event. Of course, being the ham I am I rode the wave of the bit for the next 5 to 10 minutes and the audience played into it with me. Then one of the passengers labeled me with a new elf name of “Hot Toushee!”

Now, this new name can be taken many ways and if you were there in the moment you would totally understand how the name came to be. However, the Polar Express was passing through Moundhouse where the Bunny Ranch red arrow was shining brightly in the night out the windows of the car when this hilarious moment took place. I would be willing to bet the Bunny Ranch already has an elf with the name “Hot Toushee” in their workshop. As the name Lollipop as it is a bit more kid friendly and appropriate I think I will keep Lollipop as my elf name.

However, passing through Moundhouse on the Polar Express or by car will spark a whole different memory in my mind. While this is not a touching story or a “Kids say the darndest things story”, it will be another wonderful memory of my experiences on the Polar Express and what I consider to be another God Wink. As a performer knowing your audience is into the show you are putting on is so rewarding. Actors and actresses like Tim Conway, Carol Burnett, Jerry Lewis and Robin Williams made life rewarding for themselves and others by creating a magic that sucked their audience in and then laughing at themselves while their audience laughed at them.

Thank you God for giving me this moment to create a little magic which had people laughing and for helping me to laugh at myself with them. I take life way to serious a lot of the time and this memory will be used as a reminder to laugh more.