The Springfield, MO area has 11 Christmas events for kids we could confirm for the 2026 season, from Nutcracker Children's Workshop in Springfield on November 8 to Santa and Mrs. Claus in the Christmas Tree House in Springfield, which runs through December 26. 2 of them are free, and every listing links straight to the host. It is one stop on our guide to Christmas events for kids in Missouri, part of our guide for every state.
The Springfield, IL area has 17 Christmas events for kids we could confirm for the 2026 season, from Holiday Extravaganza in Springfield on November 22 to Noon Year's Eve Party in Springfield, on December 31. 7 of them are free, and every listing links straight to the host. It is one stop on our guide to Christmas events for kids in Illinois, part of our guide for every state.
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A children’s book and the perfect Christmas gift
Take a look inside Rally Takes the Train
The morning ofPage 1Santa Fe DepotPage 2Down the aislePage 3The window seatPage 4Snack timePage 5A new friendPage 6The tunnelPage 7Someone is waitingPage 8
Rally Takes the Train
Eight pages from the book
Turn the page
That's 8 of 25 pages
See who’s waiting at the station
Grandmommy and Papa are at the last stop. Get the full hand-painted book.
This guide is free for every family. Buying a copy of Rally Takes the Train is what keeps it that way.
Rally wakes up early, packs his suitcase, finds his seat by the window, makes a friend of the conductor, sheds a little “corgi glitter” down the aisle, and gets to the grand-paw-rents at the end of the line. It is a happy book, and many families reading it are remembering someone too.
A rhyming story you can read at bedtime in about five minutes
Every page hand-painted in real watercolor by Leslie Dunn, never AI
For ages 0 to 8, the perfect Christmas gift or stocking stuffer
My mom, Debra Kay Lizee, passed away in 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, before she ever wrote a word of it. So I did. I wrote it so her idea would not end with her.
Read the rest of my story
I wrote Rally Takes the Train, but it was my mom’s idea first. For as long as I can remember, she talked about a little corgi who packs his toys, rides the train along the coast with his family, and finds his grand-paw-rents waiting on the platform at the very last stop. Rally is our real corgi, and she adored him.
I wrote the story in rhyme, the way she always described it, short enough to read at bedtime in about five minutes. It is a happy book. Her idea was a happy one, and the book had to be too.
Leslie Dunn painted every page by hand in real watercolor on paper. Nothing was generated or retouched with AI, because it had to be made by people who cared about it.
Mom, thank you for the perfect idea that let me channel my grief into something bigger. Dad, thank you for supporting my goal of making this book a reality in her honor. I’m sorry you never got to see it completed, but this book is now for you too.
