Ms. Shuttergirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2009
It's not a secret that I absolutely adore Christmas. If you think I've shared lots of pics on previous trips you wait until I get to see all of the awesome decorations in the US, it will be mental.
My family are not strangers to being away for Christmas. We have only ever spent 1 Christmas in our own home which on alot of levels makes me sad. When our daughter was a baby we moved interstate and so I guess we always felt it was our "duty" to go home for Christmas. Then FIL got sick 3 years ago and we not only spent Christmas away but we did so in a dingy cabin in a caravan park so that the inlaws house wasn't too crowded when he wasn't well.
So we aren't novices at this type of thing.
However - I've never been away for nearly the whole of December, travelling from hotel room to hotel room. And I've never had us all sleeping in the same room for Christmas eve and Santa's delivery of gifts (if you know what I mean). We always had a 2 bedroom cabin with a separate lounge that made Santa's efforts alot easier.
Jump to this coming December. I have 2 issues I'd like your thoughts on.
1. Christmas Eve/Morning
My children are DD14 and DS10. Obviously DD14 is a wake up to the Santa situation although she knows better than to EVER discuss it with me and break my heart . I kind of thought that the jig was up with DS10 also until a few things he said recently. Leading up to his birthday he said he wanted a PS3. I said no way were we coughing up that sort of money for his birthday gift along with everything else he wanted. He said "fine, I'll just ask Santa to bring me one for Christmas". I couldn't believe it. That was a few months ago though so I thought perhaps things had changed but alas we were in a store the other day and he asked "mum does Santa bring clothes as well as toys?" I said he sure does. He said "will he know my size". I said "absolutely".
Now don't get me wrong, I think it is the most magical thing to still have that sort of innocence and on many levels I feel so happy that we still have this to look forward to for another Christmas.
But obviously, it would've been easier to have the cat out of the bag and just do a few small gifts, etc.
what should I do?
Gifts - Since this trip is pretty massive, 5 weeks of wonderfulness, and since we had planned on doing lots and lots of shopping for the kids, I was thinking I wouldn't give quite as many Christmas gifts. Now on top of that, Santa will have to give gifts. I have already said he should perhaps ask Santa for gift cards and small in size items this year because of not having much space in the luggage. Do you think that's ok? And do you think it's reasonable to explain to the kids that the gifts from us will be minimal due to the trip and all the shopping we'll be doing?
Santa's delivery - How on earth is Santa going to deliver the presents without anyone hearing/seeing/waking up???? Where in a hotel room with minimal space would be a good spot for him to leave the gifts? I do plan on having a very small tree but I need to think about how far away from where my DS sleeps I can put it so Santa doesn't get caught .
2. 1. Christmas decorations, traditions, crafts, etc
Because we leave on 9 December things are going to be very different this Christmas. The first is that I will not be decorating our home for Christmas. I couldn't bare getting back after travelling for 5 weeks, exhausted and having to pack it all up. I have 4 full size Christmas trees, all pictures get taken off the walls and replaced with Christmas quilts, pictures etc. All surfaces get cleared and stacked high with ornaments. I just don't have it in me to put it up then pack it up as it takes days and days.
I did think I might try to find a few of my Jim Shore Disney Christmas things and put them out and I might be able to stretch to decorating one tree, of course it would have to be the Disney one .
I will be frantic with the business in the lead up to this trip so many of the wonderful traditions we enjoy each year may well have to be missed out on as well. It kind of breaks my heart a little because I didn't have a very good childhood and all of these wonderful activities and traditions have been part of making my children feel loved and safe. That's what is so good about traditions, kids can count on them. Even lame ones most kids look forward to, it brings them comfort, the routine of it all.
We normally bake and decorate gingerbread cookies, make lots of Christmas crafts, read a different Christmas story ever night (I've been collecting books and poems for years), watch a bazillion Christmas movies, usually have a few Christmas parties with friends, bake and decorate a gingerbread house, spend days decorating the whole house together, having the obligatory photo on Santa's knee, the list goes on and on. I also love love love to bake Christmas themed food, it makes me happy. The decorations in our home especially create an amazing feeling and everyone who calls in adores it and my children really love being a part of it.
What do I do?
Obviously 11 nights in WDW and then on to NYC for 9 nights and Christmas are going to make it hard to do any or all of these activities. What can I do to create a festive feeling in our 2 hotel rooms? It would have to be either small and not take up much room in a suitcase, something I could leave behind, etc.
Christmas stockings - I've decided that I'm not going to take my kids Christmas stockings with us which makes me so sad. Those babies have flown with us everywhere but they are padded and bulky and I'm not dragging them around the US. I thought perhaps I could buy something Disney themed like a pillow case and use those since they are small. Do you think that's ok?
Books - Also our Night Before Christmas Book is very bulky. Do you think I should still take it or try to find something printable online that will do the trick and not weigh much? I do have lots of poems and stories that I had printed up and tied ribbon around when the kids were little as we couldn't afford to buy many Christmas books then so I found lots of stories online, printed them up on pretty paper and made my own. I think they will work fine to be slipped into the suitcase.
Christmas tree - I definitely have to have a little tree. My thoughts on this is to try and find something small here and take it with us and then just leave it in the hotel room in NYC when we leave. That way we don't have to search and try and find anything in the US and then it will free up suitcase space. Thoughts?
Other decorations - does anyone have any good ideas for decorating the 2 hotel rooms that 1. don't take up much suitcase space 2. don't take long to put up and down and 3. aren't expensive.
Baking - The baking thing I can let go of because WDW will have so many Christmas themed baked goods. I will just have to make sure to buy something nearly everyday we are there that has a Christmas theme.
In conclusion
I know our kids are so lucky to be going on this trip. I know the dream of a white US/Canadian christmas is going to be absolutely wonderful (and cold) and that we will be so overwhelmed with all of the decorations we see that we will be jumping with joy. But I still want to bring a bit of home and some of our traditions to the experience so it isn't "too different" for the kids.
If you have managed to read through all of this you are amazing!!!!!. It's so long winded but I just needed to get this out there and see if you guys who are far more travelled than me, or the ones who just have the most amazing ideas and imaginations - if anyone has thoughts or ideas I would love to hear them.
Ta Disers
My family are not strangers to being away for Christmas. We have only ever spent 1 Christmas in our own home which on alot of levels makes me sad. When our daughter was a baby we moved interstate and so I guess we always felt it was our "duty" to go home for Christmas. Then FIL got sick 3 years ago and we not only spent Christmas away but we did so in a dingy cabin in a caravan park so that the inlaws house wasn't too crowded when he wasn't well.
So we aren't novices at this type of thing.
However - I've never been away for nearly the whole of December, travelling from hotel room to hotel room. And I've never had us all sleeping in the same room for Christmas eve and Santa's delivery of gifts (if you know what I mean). We always had a 2 bedroom cabin with a separate lounge that made Santa's efforts alot easier.
Jump to this coming December. I have 2 issues I'd like your thoughts on.
1. Christmas Eve/Morning
My children are DD14 and DS10. Obviously DD14 is a wake up to the Santa situation although she knows better than to EVER discuss it with me and break my heart . I kind of thought that the jig was up with DS10 also until a few things he said recently. Leading up to his birthday he said he wanted a PS3. I said no way were we coughing up that sort of money for his birthday gift along with everything else he wanted. He said "fine, I'll just ask Santa to bring me one for Christmas". I couldn't believe it. That was a few months ago though so I thought perhaps things had changed but alas we were in a store the other day and he asked "mum does Santa bring clothes as well as toys?" I said he sure does. He said "will he know my size". I said "absolutely".
Now don't get me wrong, I think it is the most magical thing to still have that sort of innocence and on many levels I feel so happy that we still have this to look forward to for another Christmas.
But obviously, it would've been easier to have the cat out of the bag and just do a few small gifts, etc.
what should I do?
Gifts - Since this trip is pretty massive, 5 weeks of wonderfulness, and since we had planned on doing lots and lots of shopping for the kids, I was thinking I wouldn't give quite as many Christmas gifts. Now on top of that, Santa will have to give gifts. I have already said he should perhaps ask Santa for gift cards and small in size items this year because of not having much space in the luggage. Do you think that's ok? And do you think it's reasonable to explain to the kids that the gifts from us will be minimal due to the trip and all the shopping we'll be doing?
Santa's delivery - How on earth is Santa going to deliver the presents without anyone hearing/seeing/waking up???? Where in a hotel room with minimal space would be a good spot for him to leave the gifts? I do plan on having a very small tree but I need to think about how far away from where my DS sleeps I can put it so Santa doesn't get caught .
2. 1. Christmas decorations, traditions, crafts, etc
Because we leave on 9 December things are going to be very different this Christmas. The first is that I will not be decorating our home for Christmas. I couldn't bare getting back after travelling for 5 weeks, exhausted and having to pack it all up. I have 4 full size Christmas trees, all pictures get taken off the walls and replaced with Christmas quilts, pictures etc. All surfaces get cleared and stacked high with ornaments. I just don't have it in me to put it up then pack it up as it takes days and days.
I did think I might try to find a few of my Jim Shore Disney Christmas things and put them out and I might be able to stretch to decorating one tree, of course it would have to be the Disney one .
I will be frantic with the business in the lead up to this trip so many of the wonderful traditions we enjoy each year may well have to be missed out on as well. It kind of breaks my heart a little because I didn't have a very good childhood and all of these wonderful activities and traditions have been part of making my children feel loved and safe. That's what is so good about traditions, kids can count on them. Even lame ones most kids look forward to, it brings them comfort, the routine of it all.
We normally bake and decorate gingerbread cookies, make lots of Christmas crafts, read a different Christmas story ever night (I've been collecting books and poems for years), watch a bazillion Christmas movies, usually have a few Christmas parties with friends, bake and decorate a gingerbread house, spend days decorating the whole house together, having the obligatory photo on Santa's knee, the list goes on and on. I also love love love to bake Christmas themed food, it makes me happy. The decorations in our home especially create an amazing feeling and everyone who calls in adores it and my children really love being a part of it.
What do I do?
Obviously 11 nights in WDW and then on to NYC for 9 nights and Christmas are going to make it hard to do any or all of these activities. What can I do to create a festive feeling in our 2 hotel rooms? It would have to be either small and not take up much room in a suitcase, something I could leave behind, etc.
Christmas stockings - I've decided that I'm not going to take my kids Christmas stockings with us which makes me so sad. Those babies have flown with us everywhere but they are padded and bulky and I'm not dragging them around the US. I thought perhaps I could buy something Disney themed like a pillow case and use those since they are small. Do you think that's ok?
Books - Also our Night Before Christmas Book is very bulky. Do you think I should still take it or try to find something printable online that will do the trick and not weigh much? I do have lots of poems and stories that I had printed up and tied ribbon around when the kids were little as we couldn't afford to buy many Christmas books then so I found lots of stories online, printed them up on pretty paper and made my own. I think they will work fine to be slipped into the suitcase.
Christmas tree - I definitely have to have a little tree. My thoughts on this is to try and find something small here and take it with us and then just leave it in the hotel room in NYC when we leave. That way we don't have to search and try and find anything in the US and then it will free up suitcase space. Thoughts?
Other decorations - does anyone have any good ideas for decorating the 2 hotel rooms that 1. don't take up much suitcase space 2. don't take long to put up and down and 3. aren't expensive.
Baking - The baking thing I can let go of because WDW will have so many Christmas themed baked goods. I will just have to make sure to buy something nearly everyday we are there that has a Christmas theme.
In conclusion
I know our kids are so lucky to be going on this trip. I know the dream of a white US/Canadian christmas is going to be absolutely wonderful (and cold) and that we will be so overwhelmed with all of the decorations we see that we will be jumping with joy. But I still want to bring a bit of home and some of our traditions to the experience so it isn't "too different" for the kids.
If you have managed to read through all of this you are amazing!!!!!. It's so long winded but I just needed to get this out there and see if you guys who are far more travelled than me, or the ones who just have the most amazing ideas and imaginations - if anyone has thoughts or ideas I would love to hear them.
Ta Disers