For a memorable Christmas present, Grandma took the great-grandchildren to Disney on Ice. We had an absolute blast! The kids loved it almost as much as the adults. Our seats were perfect, front and center. We started the evening at ourlocal hole-in-the-wall Friday night pizza spot, and ended it with a run to Krispy Kreme! In between we spent two hours watching Cars, the Lion King, the Little Mermaid, Tinkerbell, and of course, Mickey and Minnie and friends skate and dance on the ice. I, being the thrifty shopper that I am, found Cars and Tinkerbell plate/bowl/cup/travel cup sets on clearance at Food Lion, and bought them before the show. When we left, I gave them to the kids saying Lightning McQueen and Tinkerbell had sent them a special surprise for being so good at the show. They, of course, were thrilled! And you can believe I was more than thrilled with the $60 I saved by buying souvenirs beforehand!
During the show
Lightning McQueen!
During Christmas this year, we tried to place our focus on Christ and building family traditions. We made homemade gifts, spent time opening our advent calendar and reciting the Christmas story, hosted a cookie baking party, made our first gingerbread house, sang carols, and really reveled in the the holiday season. Patrick and I found bikes for the kids on Craigslist for $10 each, and we made them fleece blankets to sleep with. Eli got Spiderman, one of his current favorite heroes.
For Christmas we were able to travel to Monroe to visit Nana and Carolyn and family where we enjoyed Eli's favorite supper (hamburgers on the grill!) and opened Eli's favorite present (baseball!) We left Monroe for Shallotte where we spent a few days with family, including Christmas morning at Mimi and Grandpa's! We had a great time opening gifts, eating food, and walking Marco.
Eli's Carolina Panther bike, Christmas morning
Snow!
The kids finally got to experience snow, and it did not disappoint. We woke up to 4 inches of fluffy white stuff, and it continued to fall until it reached six inches on our handy yardstick! Unfortunately, my camera was only good for three pictures that day, but trust me, the kids had an awesome time. They ran, threw, ate, licked, played in, built snow angels, walked in, and even went to the park and slid, ran, and swung in the snow. It was great fun while it lasted, and I have determined once a year is quite enough for me!
