The Disney Grump & Family Take on the World-Our '09 Christmas w/ the Mouse, COMPLETE

[SoonerGirl]

Ahhhh, Christmas with the Mouse. Were we fortunate or foolish to be going to WDW during the actual week of Christmas? That will eventually be revealed. I will say that I have dreamed of seeing WDW all dressed up for the holidays for quite some time now, and Christmas week was really my only option of doing so. Since my oldest started Jr. High last year it’s much too difficult to take him out of school, so we were stuck waiting until Christmas break.

For this trip, my dream was to stay at the Boardwalk Inn. On mine and DHs first visit to WDW we stayed at the Swan and I loved the whole Boardwalk area. The idea of being within walking distance to Epcot and just a short boat ride away from DHS just sounded heavenly to me. But, alas, my pocketbook would not support my dream, so I booked us a room for 8 nights at Port Orleans French Quarter, from December 19th-27th.

Before I go any further, for those of you who don’t know me, let me introduce my family.

There’s me, Michelle, I just turned (gulp) 40 this year. I was never able to visit WDW when I was a kid, in fact my first visit wasn’t until 2000/2001 (we were there over New Years), and that trip came about rather accidentally. The real purpose of our visit to Florida was to watch the Oklahoma Sooners play the Florida State Seminoles for the College Football National Championship in Miami. We were using DHs free SW flights for our trip and at the time they didn’t fly from Oklahoma City to Miami, so we had to fly into Orlando. I thought to myself that it might be fun to spend a couple of days at Disney World before we headed south to Miami. So, last minute I was able to get a room at the Swan and we were off to WDW! In those short two days I fell for Disney hook, line and sinker! I just love it!

Here’s a picture of me from a girls only trip I took this summer to celebrate my 40th (uggg) birthday. (I don’t think a photo of me by myself exists, so I’m with my girlfriends here – I’m the one in the middle)



Then there is DH, also known as Don. Unfortunately he has never been bitten by the Disney bug. He tolerates our trips, and for the most part has a good time while we are there, he would just rather go someplace else. I lovingly refer to him as the Disney Grump. In fact, I bought him this shirt for Christmas last year as a joke; he got a big laugh out of it and actually wears it quite often!



When I broached the subject of a WDW Christmas trip with him, his first response was no, but it wasn’t his typical “don’t bring it up again” kind of no, so I didn’t give up! He finally agreed, as long as I agreed that this would be it for a long time, he was tired of going to Disney. I said fine (with my fingers crossed, of course – hey, if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have gotten the trip!).

Here we are together - a do it yourself kind of shot



We have two boys, ages 13 and 9. My oldest, Justin, is in the eighth grade and in true teenage style likes to test his mother’s patience. He loves sports, and excels at both basketball and baseball. He is my more tentative child; he’s a worrier and is very detail oriented just like his mother. And when he has that teenaged mouth closed, he is very sweet.

Here's Justin





Our younger son is Jared, he is more like his father, he’s my wild child. I swear I have more than a few gray hairs (cleverly covered up, thanks to my beautician) due to him. He is a thrill seeker, and he's messy, and loud and it’s sometimes difficult to get him to focus on what he is supposed to be doing. I’m sure he hears the words “focus, child!” in his sleep! He also loves sports, and in addition to basketball and baseball, plays football.

Jared (this 1st pic about sums him up ) :





They are both generally wonderful kids and are usually well behaved, but like all children, they have their moments! My boys -

Sweet:


Crazy:


And last but not least, is our sweet Abby. She was a stray that adopted us when I was pregnant with Jared, and she has by far been the best dog I have ever had! Unfortunately she couldn’t make the trip to WDW with us, so she went to Camp Grandma for a full week of R&R!



So that’s us in a nutshell – thanks for reading along!

Up next: Bringing a little fun to the waiting game!

I should have reserved the 2nd post for links to my updates, but I forgot, so I'll add them here:

Adding some fun to the waiting game
We Arrive!
Epcot Day 1, Part 1
Epcot Day 1, Part 2
A Mom & Daughter Trip, Plans for May
Day 2, Animal Kingdom, Part 1
Day 2, Animal Kingdom, Part 2 & An evening @ POFQ
Day 3, A Morning at the Magic Kingdom
Day 3, The Epcot Storytellers, Part 1
Photopass Pictures
Day 3, Epcot Storytellers & Teppan Edo
Day 4, Breakfast with Pooh
Day 4, Magic Kingdom, Part 1
Day 4, Magic Kingdom, Part 2 Celebrate It Parade & Cinderella's Wish
Day 5, Hollywood Studios, Part 1
Snow!
Day 5, Hollywood Studios, Part 2 - Osbourne Lights!
Day 6, A Christmas Eve Shopping Excursion
Day 6, An Evening at Epcot
Day 6, Candlelight Processional & Souvies!
Day 7, Christmas Morning and an empty Animal Kingdom
Day 7, Animal Kingdom, Part 2
Day 7, Mini Golf
Day 7, The Surprise and Whispering Canyon Cafe
Day 8, Epcot, Le Cellier & The Grand Floridian
Day 8, Our disastrous dinner & what would happen with our evening plans?
Day 9, Departure Day
Final Thoughts