...my true love gave to me - 16 mice a scrambling. Since this is my futile attempt at blog catch-up, I'm welcome to make up lyrics to the song, right? I do realize there aren't 16 days of Christmas and apologize for compromising the integrity of this Christian classic. For more information than you ever need to know about the foundations of the tune, please check out this website.
Back to those scrambling mice... or maybe I should say 16 crazy people scrambling amongst a mouse, none other than The Mickey Mouse.
Among our newer holiday traditions is a quick trip to Orlando for the Disney Very Merry Christmas Party in early December. I hesitate to share this secret, as I'm fearful more and more people will discover the gem of Disney special events and the events in-turn will lose their special, limited amount of people feel.
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| Aunt Kassie recently commented that she is SUPER happy LE outgrew those ridiculous over-sized bows ;). |
Two years ago, when Disney did one of their Florida resident specials, I had the brilliant idea that we should spend a week at the Happiest Place on Earth, for Tax Man's post-tax season getaway.While full of merry-making memories, there was very little relaxation involved, so Tax Man made me promise that future post-tax trips would happen in more low-key venues.
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| She loves a good map. Keeps them as treasure in her art basket... and has been found to be reminiscing about trips while looking at the maps {or pointing out rides we didn't go on}. |
And so, promising the man in charge that we would take a Disney breather, we held out 18 whole months between visits and then in December 2011, had our first Very Merry Christmas experience with our cousins.
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| These are the munchkins this year, but they are the ones responsible for introducing us to this little gem. We waited for exactly 0 minutes to see Mickey Mouse. Not kidding - no 90 minutes of bribing kids in line for two seconds of character time. |
This year, we decided to tack the trip onto our family Christmas party trip to Jacksonville {which is traditionally on the first Saturday of December}, and included a whole gaggle of geese loved ones in the adventure.
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| Someone please remove the leggings from my closet until after I have this baby and once I've started exercising again. I think my thighs have gained more weight than the ole belly. |
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| Nana and Sisters had the joy of Disney with LE and I a few years back {I swear, we don't go that often}, but this was Papa's first trip with the Peanut, and boy did she love having her Goofy there! |
And while trying to keep 16 people wrangled at Disney World was a bit of a joke {ask Tax Man}, there is something so incredibly special about sharing these smiles with family.
Our family is uniquely blessed to be ridiculously uniquely large, and I spent many a childhood vacation with these kids' parents - looking up to them, being ignored by them, trying my hardest to keep up with them, being exposed to all kinds of experiences with them - and so the "Circle of Life" continues as our own kids form fast friendships.
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Part of the joy of Very Merry Christmas is that by 7 pm, only ticket holders for the event are in the park - and the number of people there is extremely limited. So, literally, between 6:55 and 7 p.m., lines suddenly dissipate and children can choose to ride rides and visit characters over and over...
And over...
Even the "children at heart" enjoyed visiting with the characters. I can't figure out why...
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| As a side note, LE gave her daddy a frame with two photos to select from for his desk. One was the above pictured image of her and Ariel, the second was a recent one of me and LE - guess which one he picked?!? |
Or some serious discussions with our favorite princess du jour...
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| "How do I make my hair grow like yours???" |
It was a Very Merry night indeed!
