Holiday Memories have Arrived!

In this midst of the past crazy week (aka the week with no blog post), something wonderful arrived on my doorstep.  The photobook I had finally made, thanks to a really great coupon code, of our trip to Walt Disney World last December.  Yep, you read that right, December 2009.  What can I say, it took a little longer than expected to get a scrapbook/photobook put together.  Setting aside my obvious problem with procrastination, what I really wanted to share with you is how wonderful it was to be able relive those holiday memories from last year while getting into the holiday spirit this year.  It was such an amazing trip...our first during the Christmas season.  And although I can honestly say that it isn't my absolute favorite time of year to travel to Disney, it did spoil me just a little bit on how the holidays should be celebrated.  The best lights in town can't compare to the Osborne lights at Disney's Hollywood Studios.  And the White County Christmas Parade certainly doesn't have life size Gingerbread Men, marching Toy Soldiers, or Mickey Mouse!

So how do you have a Merry Christmas the "ordinary" way now that you've experienced the "Disney" way?








Well, you could attempt to drape your house in lights, much like Cinderella castle, and in the end, look like you belong to the Griswold family.  Or you could plan to set off fireworks outside around 10 pm on Christmas Eve, but you'd probably end up having a visit from your local law enforcement officers offering to let you spend Christmas downtown.

You could be part of a town wide effort to improve Christmas with all of your acquired Disney knowledge on how the Christmas holiday SHOULD be celebrated (and in the meantime suddenly find that all of your friends are too busy to take your phone calls).

All of these ideas are fine, but could definitely lead to some disappointments.  Many of us are prone to the "holiday blues" anyway, and sometimes that can be simply from expectations that are way too high to ever be met.  We go into the Christmas season thinking, I want to do this or that, and I want it to go this way or that way, and everything just has to be perfect!  But inevitably, something doesn't go just right, or something doesn't turn out as grand as we had hoped or planned, and without meaning to, we set our holidays up for failure.  Especially if we've had an amazing experience, such as a trip to Disney during the Christmas season, to compare our meager celebrations to.  So what should you do instead?  Enjoy reminiscing over those previous holiday memories, but recognize, nothing you do at home will be quite as grand as a Disney Christmas.  Keep things in perspective.  And if you just feel the need to experience a little holiday Magic, check out your favorite Disney websites and podcasts for the latest info on the Christmas happenings at Walt Disney World.  (Rikki has a great series on Christmas in the Parks going on her website  www.adisneyworldafterall.com and the Be Our Guest Podcast, WDW Today, & WDW Radio have all recently featured podcasts about the Disney holiday season...check them out!)

So be realistic about your holiday expectations, relive those special holiday memories, and finally, create a little magic of your own!  If you've just got to have some Disney in your Christmas celebrations, make it happen!  Trust me, I know what I'm talking about!

And if you'd like a full trip report from last December, with more pictures of our experiences with the Disney Christmas season, leave me a message in the comments and I'll see what I can do!