Thursday, November 29, 2007

The year was 2003...

With Christmas barreling towards us at the speed of light and our Disney trip coming soon after, it has me reminiscing about this particular year.

We had never been to Walt Disney World and, frankly, had no plans to go. One day in August of that year, we were sitting on the front porch being nosey relaxing and watched the family across the street load up into a limo to head to the airport for a trip to see the World. Roni said, "I wish we could go there." Well, for some reason, I caught a fever that I can't seem to shake to this day. That evening I started researching on the computer. I called her over and said, "How does December sound?" She was blown away. By now she may be regretting those words because I can't seem to stay away from there. Of course, for our maiden trip, I didn't know any better and actually bought the tickets online from the Disney site. Now, I'm a deal hunter (and cheap frugal) and know where to go and get the best prices.

Katie was about to turn 10 and we elected to keep it a secret from her for a while. We had also decided that this was going to be our Christmas gift for all of us.

The dilemma: Although Katie was 10, she still professed to believe in Santa. You all might feel that's OK, but 10 is a bit old in my opinion. why should this fictitious dude get all the accolades while we get the fish eye when she opens her presents, dammit?! Now, how were we going to explain why Santa had a big ol' budget cut this year? Not to mention the fact that her father was out of work and was getting her nothing. She was used to "Santa" showing up at both houses. Inspiration struck! It was long about November and Katie started talking about writing her letter to Santa for the love of Pete (she knew about the trip by now). As much as I loathed grimaced over the Santa thing, I didn't want to completely burst her bubble so I said, "OH! Didn't you know?! Didn't anyone ever tell you about the cut-off age for gifts from Santa?!" A confused look ensued. "Well, Santa can't deliver presents to everybody forever. Why do you think that we don't still get gifts from him? He has to have room in his sleigh gag for all the new babies born each year so, once a kid turns 10 years old, the parents take over for him in the giving of gifts. That's why we're going to Disney this year. It's our gift to you for Christmas" (she really, really wanted to go back then). This made perfect sense to her and I patted myself on the back for being a damn genius.

What a great trip that was. We drive down and when we left here, the temperature was in the bone-chilling teens. When we passed through Orlando, the temp was 80. Sweet, sweet bliss. The crowds in the parks were non-existent. It was absolutely perfect for a first trip when you are simply amazed at the sheer size and the pure Magic of the World.

If you've never been and are planning on going some day, or even if you've been a bunch of times, but never in early December, I highly recommend it. Not to over use a phrase, but there really is no better way to put it...It's Magical!

Shout out to Rachel who will be leaving for her first December trip in a few weeks. Have the time of your life, my friend!

4 comments:

Baby John's Crib said...

Oh, I'm so jealous of your trip!

Have a blast, and enjoy the sun and warm weather.

Mama Bear said...

Cool, you will have sooo much fun. We own a timeshare 3 miles from DisneyWorld and going there this July (ewww, hot city) but the girls will love it (not mom who HATES crowds) but it is so much fun to see the look on their faces when you wait forever for those precious rides!!!! Have an awesome trip.
Rhonda

Anonymous said...

Hey Tam!

You have me so excited about going in the winter, I am used to sweating my ass off in the crowds of the summer. I SOOOO wish you could be going to WDW when we are this year, we originally started planning this trip when we were TTC and psychotic over it...LMAO! If you would have told me that we'd both have our babies I would have called you a damned liar, but hey, we do :D And they are so worth not getting to meet once again, I will think of you guys while I am there, you know that! I can't wait to see it all decorated for Christmas, (eventhough we're Jewish...lol, hey we like pretty things!) Tony and I were reviewing our "have to do it's" tonight, we need a vacation so bad *sigh*

I can't wait to meet in WDW some year...the kids may be 10, but it WILL happen.

We leave in 12 days and just in case I don't have time to pop in, Happy Birthday!!! :D

Oh, and hit me up on AIM...I'm always worried I'm gonna pick the wrong name...LOL, I have some last minutes questions, like oh, I don't know...where do I buy tickets or is it too late for that and what's with the Christmas party at MK? Hit me up :D

Pug Mom said...

You know, I grew up near LA for the first 12 years of my life, so a trip to Disneyland wasn't all that uncommon. But I've really never been much of an amusement park fan - what really gets me excited is going to the zoo. And growing up near the San Diego Zoo was heaven (seriously, one of the biggest best zoos in the world). So we had season tickets and would drop by every weekend. I also liked Sea World, so we'd do that too every so often. :) Animals are such fun for kids! Although I'm sure Kevin will have SO MUCH fun when you all take him to Disneyland - you MUST post pictures!