Students at Sixth Street Preparatory, a charter school in Victorville, Calif., had a tradition for a number of years of decorating a Christmas tree at the local Amtrak station.
This year, the station was unavailable because of a lack of water and power after a restaurant closed there.
But on short notice, in steps the California Route 66 Museum, reported the Victorville Daily Press.
More than 240 children — kindergarten to sixth-grade — were escorted by teachers and parents on a walk from their school to the museum.
They patiently paraded into the museum to take their turn in hanging their hand-crafted ornaments on the six-foot tree.
They were then given juice and cookies and Route 66 pencils and maps to color in that showed all of the states the “Mother Road” wound through. They then went outside and sang Christmas carols.
“The kids look forward to this every year,” said Heidi Anderson, second-grade teacher.
Many of the children were happy to continue their tradition and they were also taken aback by the new location.
“Teacher what is that?” “Oh, look at that old car!” said some of the students about various items on display in the museum.
“We are going to have to come back here on a field trip,” said Anderson to her students. The students cheered in approval.
Museum President Chick Kirk said he’d she’d be happy to host the Christmas event every year and make it a tradition.
Chick Kirk, by the way, is a “she”.