So 3 days before Christmas Chris came home from work and said to me, “I think we should go to Disneyland for Christmas.”  WHAT??!!??  is what my mind said, “Really?  Okay.” is what I said to him.  So I spent the next several days working out the logistics of a family road trip 700 miles to California over the holiday break.  I am SO glad that we did it!  It was crazy busy with boat loads of people there, but was such a blast for our little family and fun times for the kids, even Izzy! 

Spencer was tall enough to ride all of the rides this time and Josey could ride everything except Indiana Jones (although she was scared to death of everything, even Peter Pan!)  Some of my favorite moments of the 3 days there:  Josey did not want to ride any of the rides…she would take one look at them and say they looked scary and that she was going to throw up if we made her ride on them.  Her very first ride was Peter Pan and she was freaked out.  A teenager in front of us told her she would give her 2 quarters if she didn’t like the ride.  By the time we got off Josey was crying uncontrollably and the teenager stayed and delivered on the two quarters.  She only wanted to meet all the characters: Mickey, Minnie, the Princesses, Tinkerbell, Goofy, all except Sullie from Monsters, Inc.–NOT interested!   Spencer wanted to ride all the roller coasters.  Chris and Spencer would go ride the roller coasters while the Girls waited in lines to meet the characters.  They rode the Matterhorn several times, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain.  In fact he rode Splash Mountain 5 times back to back as a single rider getting wetter and wetter the more he rode.  He loved the freedom!  Izzy loved Tigger, Pooh Bear and Eeyore.  While waiting for Spencer on Splash Mountain, they were coming back from a break and Izzy saw them and with arms out in front of her chased after them, Tigger came out behind her and saw her, following her mimicking her arms and she stole the show and made everyone there smile!  Josey at that age wouldn’t let the characters come near her, Izzy let them even touch her without freaking out!  She was fun!  It was crazy busy, but the magic that children experience while there is priceless…I am so glad that I worked out all the logistics!

Every kid’s passage through life needs a ‘crying on Santa’s lap’ picture, and Izzy didn’t disappoint!  She was NOT happy!

Josey apparently told Santa that she wanted a doll with blue shoes and a blue dress with the prince that goes with her…unfortunately that didn’t translate to Santa’s Helpers and on Christmas morning after all but the last present was opened and she didn’t get her doll with the blue shoes and dress, she stormed out of the room crying and slammed her bedroom door!  Jeesh!  Santa was in BIG trouble!!!

Spencer had his whole list ready to tell Santa with a paper that he created while in Ohio with Mema and knew exactly what he wanted for Chrismas.  Santa had a better idea and didn’t bring him anything he wanted on his list and Spencer was thrilled with that he got!  I love when Santa knows best and knocks it out of the park! 

We went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City to see the beautiful lights and enjoy one of my favorite Christmas traditions.  We went to dinner at Settebellos (an authentic Italian pizzeria) first, then walked around the area and through the lights. It was freezing cold the night that we went, but my favorite sounds were the “ooooohhhhs and aaaahhhs” coming from my children when they would see the bright Christmas lights, the nativity and the LDS temple. 

Then there was Christmas! 

My kids are at the most perfect age for Christmas this year…Spencer got Imaginext Aircraft and a telescope.  Josey got the fun castle and a bunch of princess stuff, dolls, dress ups, games…what more could a girl ask for?!  And Isabelle got the Weeble-Wobble go round that plays music so she can dance and she loves!  As our final present we had them open an envelope which had a picture of the Disneyland Castle on it and left the evening of Christmas to drive to Disneyland for 5 days for Christmas…they were so surprised and so excited they couldn’t contain themselves!