Not Quite Ready to End Christmas...

Thanks to some good after-Christmas sales, we paid about $1 for this Gingerbread Hosue kit. It made for a fun afternoon...

 

 

 

 

Nana got into the spirit, too...

 

Okay.  Now we're done.

Christmas in Connecticut...

 

I don't think I'll ever get used to Christmas in Florida.  To me it just doesn't feel like Christmas or Hanukkah unless it's cold.  So I am always very happy to make the trek to Connecticut to celebrate the holidays with my Mom and my sister's family.

One of my favorite things to do in preparation for the festivities is make and decorate Christmas cookies.  Deb had already made the sugar cookies, and Dan, Adam and Mom had a great time painting them.

 

 

  Some real masterpieces!

Dan was thrilled to get a card from Santa at Deb's house.  He'd been worried that Santa wouldn't know where to find him...

 

Dan was up bright and early Christmas day, and patiently waited for the others to awaken...

Dan read the note Santa left him...

 

 

 

I don't have any photos of Dan opening presents because the camera that was used is missing.  Hopefully it will turn up!   But here is Dan playing with his favorite present from Santa - an iPod!

 

Here he is showing Sierra how it works...

I'll try to find some more photos.  We really had a great time up there.  We took a great trip to Hartford's Museum of Arts and Sciences, which was a blast!

Disney at Christmas...

The last time we went to Disney we decided to splurge and stay at the Wilderness Lodge.  We really wanted to make it a trip to remember for Dan, so we plunked down the boucoup (even at 40% off) bucks to stay at a Disney Deluxe resort.   The resort was gorgeous, and thanks to some issues we had with our room they comped us 2 free nights, which we used this past weekend.  Gotta love it!

One of the things we love best about staying at Wilderness Lodge is the boat that takes you directly to the Magic Kingdom.  So easy!  

I just love the view down Main Street, and meandering through the shops.  It doesn't matter that there's pretty much the same thing in every shop, but I fondly remember coming as a child and playing in the penny arcade.

Daniel gives this guy what for...

 

I can't tell you how many times we went on Splash Mountain.  

 

I can tell you that despite Pete's pose of ease, he's afraid of that final drop.  When we came when we were dating he refused to ride.

 

Here we go!

 

Pete taking the photo, Dan and I scrunched together...

Oh, and because of the faux pas on our last visit, we stayed on the Concierge level and got a few perks, including this welcome basket...

 

 

This was our first time being at Disney around Christmas, and it is now my favorite time to go.  Everything is decorated so beautifully!

 

I still love taking photos of father and son walking together...

Behind me on the rocket ride...

 He wasn't really that naughty...

Splash Mountain again...

Pirates of the Carribbean gear...

Justin Bieber was here filming his Christmas Special.  As you can see Pete was thrilled about the crowd control...

The Christmas Tree in the Wilderness Lodge had to memorialized...

Dan holding up the Epcot ball...

Playing the games at Soaring...

On the Monorail...

Christmas decorations at the Contemporary - somewhere Pete really wants to stay...

 

Dan and I waiting for our table at the Roaring Fork restaurant at Wilderness Lodge.  Breakfast was just the two of us, as Pete threw out his back...

 

 

One more shot of Dan and the Christmas tree...

Of course we stopped at Downtown Disney on our way out of town...

It was a great trip, with the exception of back problems.  We love spending time together doing something that's so much fun!  Thank you, Disney, for bring us all back to being kids.