Two of my favorite things 🎄 #christmas #shorts #christmastree

My son turned two this fall, which means this was the first Christmas where he actually *got* it. Not the whole thing — he still thought wrapping paper was the gift — but the tree, the lights, the general chaos of it all landed differently this year. So we went bigger. Tallest tree we've ever gotten. And we added a Lionel Mickey Mouse Christmas train around the base of it, which I'm now convinced was either the best or worst decision we've ever made, depending on how you feel about a toddler shrieking "CHOO CHOO" at 6 a.m.

The setup took longer than I expected. Getting the tree into the stand, leveling it, making sure it wasn't going to tip onto the train — there's a whole engineering problem nobody warns you about. But once the lights were on and the train was running its loop, my son stood there with his mouth open for a solid thirty seconds. That's a rare thing with a two-year-old. Usually their attention moves on before you can even register that they were interested.

Making a Night of It

We didn't just stop at home. One of the things I've started doing when Denver actually feels like December — cold enough, dark early, the whole thing — is use it as an excuse to get downtown and eat somewhere we've been meaning to try. My wife picked Sam's No. 3 on Curtis Street this time, which is about as classic a Denver diner as you're going to find. She'd been talking about their green chile for weeks. The place has the kind of menu where you feel slightly paralyzed because everything is cheap and it all sounds good. We ordered too much. I don't regret it.

The green chile is the real reason to go. It's got enough heat to matter without making it a challenge. I had it smothered on eggs even though it was dinnertime, which felt like the right call. My wife went with a patty melt. Our son had pancakes, ate four bites, and then asked to go back to the train. Standard.

What Downtown Looks Like in December

If you haven't been to Union Station around the holidays recently, it's worth swinging through after dinner. The forty-foot Christmas tree they set up outside is hard to miss — something like 7,000 lights on it, and they do light shows on the facade of the building that are free to watch. It's not a long experience, maybe fifteen minutes, but it's the kind of thing that makes December in Denver feel worth it. My son called it "the big one" and kept pointing at it like he was worried we hadn't noticed it.

The 16th Street Mall area gets busy on weekends, so parking can be a project. We came on a Tuesday, found a spot without much trouble, and the whole evening felt pretty relaxed. If you're trying to combine dinner with the Union Station lights, Sam's No. 3 is close enough to walk from, which makes the logistics easy.

The Tree Situation at Home

I'll say this about getting a bigger tree than you're used to: the water situation becomes a real thing. We went with a Douglas fir this year — not our usual move, but it was what looked good at the lot — and it drinks more than I expected. I've been checking the stand every day. The train running around the base doesn't help, because it means more foot traffic near the tree, which means more bumped branches, which means more needles. It's a small price to pay for watching a two-year-old wave at a Mickey Mouse locomotive every morning like it's a personal friend.

If you're thinking about going bigger on the tree this year, I'd say do it. The Lionel train was about $80, runs on batteries, and requires almost no setup. Worth every cent if you have a kid in that 2-4 range.

Sam's No. 3 on Curtis is the move for a low-key December dinner downtown — inexpensive, fast, and the green chile holds up. Combine it with a walk past Union Station and you've got a solid weeknight out without a lot of planning.