The Magic of Christmas

Happy Christmas everyone!

After a few hectic days travelling to France and back we have spent a couple of very relaxed ones.  On Christmas Eve we went down to Leicester to see grandma, grandpa and Auntie Jane and have our Christmas lunch.  It was very nice - lots of lovely fodder, a few tipples and lots of treats.  The highlight for Beth was having Auntie Jane curl her hair.  Amazingly it is still a bit wavy two days on - she has the straightest hair and so it's surprising it stayed in at all!  Thankfully the kids were quite dozy on the way home so after putting out their stockings and sorting out Santa's milk and Rudolf's carrot, they were happy to go to bed.

Christmas Day was spent at home.  It started slightly earlier than desired (5:30) but the single present left in each bedroom kept the kids occupied and upstairs for about an hour.  I think it is the first Christmas that the kids have actually stopped between presents to play with what they opened.  Usually it's like having a couple of Tasmanian Devils whirling round ripping everything open till there's nothing left!  This year it was after midday when the last present was opened, quite a miracle.


Beth's favourite present without a doubt was a pair of pink sparkly party shoes from Auntie Jane, closely followed by some make-up (just what every 6-year-old needs ;)).  Toby dotted between his presents and didn't seem to have a favourite though the Hot Wheels Mega Loop seemed to keep him occupied for quite a long time.  I suspect he wasn't feeling a 100% since he had a temperature of 103.4 (39.7), not that he complained much!

Grandma and grandad came down for lunch and we had a massive rib of beef, yorkshires and all the rest; quite an informal meal for Christmas lunch but very tasty.  It was a lovely, relaxed day where we didn't step outside once; guess we'll probably get outside today as it's mandatory to have a walk on Boxing Day.  Hope you all had great Christmases too!

The Magic Before Christmas

This year we started Christmas early and went to Disneyland Paris for three days. We left very early on the morning of December 21, arriving just before check-in, and headed straight into the park.

Beth has absolutely no memory of going to Disneyland all those times in California, so it was like a first for both the kids. We only told them the day before as neither of us could cope with the expected levels of excitement for a prolonged time!  Having said that, Beth was rather disappointed at first as she wanted to go to London shopping (she needs reminding that she was born in Orange County in close proximity to Disney rather than in LA County, where she lived, that was closer to Rodeo Drive!!!). Thankfully she did get excited and we had a great few days.

Considering we weren't trying to meet the characters, we managed to bump into a surprisingly large number of them. My favourite was Mickey as we got a family pic with him. Beth's was probably Minnie (we bumped into her in the hotel shop!), and Toby's was definitely Buzz. We saw him meeting and greeting with a massive half-hour queue and decided it wasn't worth the wait.  Instead we went to the area up near the front where you can watch him but not meet him and just looked.  I'm sure the people in the queue were less than delighted when Buzz spotted Toby in his Buzz hoodie, broke off greeting and came over especially to see him!  For any of you that know Toby, it's quite a spectacle to see him speechless, quite sweet really. :)

The rides were met with a mixed reaction. They loved the teacups, the carousel, the Buzz ride, the Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours and the haunted house. There were a few rides that were 'fine' but had no requests for a second go, and two that they totally disliked.  One was Big Thunder Mountain - Steve and I loved it while Toby didn't like it and Beth hated it as she came off with a tummy ache and banged hip!


The other was RC's ride (the remote control car from Toy Story). Beth was only just tall enough so Steve took her on.  It looked right on the edge of her comfort level, and it was.  At one point Steve was concerned she was going to puke on her fellow fun lovers!  Thankfully she held it in but I doubt will be tempted back on until she's a teenager at least.

We all loved the parades; we saw the Stars in Cars parade in the Disney Studio Park - Jessie waved and waved at Toby who was again in his top (appears that it was worth buying - thanks gran & grandad). We also saw the big main parade in the main park - Prince Charming waved and waved at Beth in her princess dress. :) They are definitely impressive and fantastic to watch but I do wonder how much ibuprofen the cast members have to take after to get rid of their smile-induced jaw aches!!

The kids are thoroughly knackered; Disneyed out, but we brilliant time and look forward to going back. Hopefully next time we'll make CA as the weather's better, the cast members I remember being even smilier and the most of the locals are friendlier. ;)