We took a very short vacation down to California to visit Disneyland at Christmas time. I absolutely love going to Disneyland and we have the perfect excuse with my sister, grandparents, and aunts living down there. We have a free place to stay, annual passes, and plenty of family to spend time with. It has a been a few years since I first went to Disneyland to enjoy the Christmas festivities (with my regency 23 friends) and I loved it. They really deck the place out for the holidays. Aaron had never been during the holiday season...so yet another good excuse to go down there. We packed up with my brother, Johnny, and cousin, Brandy, and left Thursday after work and arrived late that evening. Friday we spent the day at Disneyland with
Julia, Stephen, Johnny and our Stanton/McCorvey cousins. I absolutely loved all the decorations. New Orleans Square looked quite festive, there was a huge tree and lots of garlands and other deocrations down main street, and the Castle and It's a Small World looked fabulous at night when they were all lit up. We enjoyed the Christmas Parade, a light show projected on It's a Small World, as well as the snowfall in front of the castle. There is something cool about seeing fake snow fall in front of a castle covered in fake snow and lots of lights. I know it sounds weird, considering we could have been at home watching real snow falling, but I thought it was pretty great. In addition to doing all the Christmas stuff, we enjoyed a lot of rides too because it wasn't crowded, and we have a 2 inch stack of fast passes that Aaron has collected over time.
Julia, Stephen, Johnny and our Stanton/McCorvey cousins. I absolutely loved all the decorations. New Orleans Square looked quite festive, there was a huge tree and lots of garlands and other deocrations down main street, and the Castle and It's a Small World looked fabulous at night when they were all lit up. We enjoyed the Christmas Parade, a light show projected on It's a Small World, as well as the snowfall in front of the castle. There is something cool about seeing fake snow fall in front of a castle covered in fake snow and lots of lights. I know it sounds weird, considering we could have been at home watching real snow falling, but I thought it was pretty great. In addition to doing all the Christmas stuff, we enjoyed a lot of rides too because it wasn't crowded, and we have a 2 inch stack of fast passes that Aaron has collected over time.On Saturday we went to this park in Orange County where you can ride in this huge orange helium balloon 300 yards up in the air...for free. We were all 
pretty excited. But unfortunately after driving there and signing away our lives on our release forms, and watching the group before us go, they decided it was too windy and they probably wouldn't go up again for the rest of the day. So after taking a sad looking picture...we returned to the beach house and enjoyed an afternoon of game playing. We ate a lot of good pizza for dinner and downed a giant pizookie in record time. I think we amazed our waiter with our ability to eat a lot and eat it fast. We are a talented group. This was followed up by a disappointing trip to my favorite store, H&M, where I set a personal record by walking out of the store without buying anything. It is obviously a popular place for Christmas shopping because all the good sale stuff was gone and there were mounds of clothing thrown all over the place.
pretty excited. But unfortunately after driving there and signing away our lives on our release forms, and watching the group before us go, they decided it was too windy and they probably wouldn't go up again for the rest of the day. So after taking a sad looking picture...we returned to the beach house and enjoyed an afternoon of game playing. We ate a lot of good pizza for dinner and downed a giant pizookie in record time. I think we amazed our waiter with our ability to eat a lot and eat it fast. We are a talented group. This was followed up by a disappointing trip to my favorite store, H&M, where I set a personal record by walking out of the store without buying anything. It is obviously a popular place for Christmas shopping because all the good sale stuff was gone and there were mounds of clothing thrown all over the place.We left to drive home the next morning. It almost feels like we spent as much time driving back and forth as we spent there. But we had a great time, and it was definitely worth all the time we spent in the car. It made me even more excited for the Christmas season and reminded me of how much I love spending time with my family. They are the greatest!
