Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, it's off to the CSR we go! A Feb PTR 2/28 Trip report started!!!

[Stefy]

Hello

Glad that one of the packages made it By chance any news on my package that I sent? I'm so worried that it is lost or stolen

Looks like you had a lovely Christmas and what a gorgeous Disney tree and all those presents too

 

[dizneeat]

Hello

Glad that one of the packages made it By chance any news on my package that I sent? I'm so worried that it is lost or stolen

Looks like you had a lovely Christmas and what a gorgeous Disney tree and all those presents too

So far your package has not arrived ......... YET!! Don't worry too much, the PO did only deliver until midday on Friday and I am sure they ARE backed up. My aunt from Orpington sent 3 parcels all the same day and the first one made it in a week, the last one took 2 1/2 weeks. Don't know HOW that is possible, but that's the way the PO seems to work during holidays!

Thanks for the compliments on the tree - I love my Disney trees! We have so many Disney Ornaments I can't even put all of them up!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful too! Only 2 more days until your DLRP visit - I hope we get a short review of it too!

 

[tinacaplan]

What a beautiful tree Karin. The real candles are just lovely. I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. I thought I was coming down with something, but it seemed to go away pretty quickly. And I can't believe that we're down to fifty-five days. Seriously??? Its going to be here before we know it, that's for sure. I have the Weather channel installed on my phone and Disneyworld is one of my locations, so I've been checking the weather down there often and it has been fairly warm.

 

[englishrose47]

Can't believe I didn't know about this before !!!nywho I am all caught up!!
I love your Christmas Tree ,I found it hard to adjust to the American Trees which are much fuller !!I missed my European style ones for a long time !!!

I did very well on my 50% OFF shopping and have all the papere, bags etc I should need for at least a next year !!!

 

[dizneeat]

What a beautiful tree Karin. The real candles are just lovely. I'm glad to hear that you're feeling better. I thought I was coming down with something, but it seemed to go away pretty quickly. And I can't believe that we're down to fifty-five days. Seriously??? Its going to be here before we know it, that's for sure. I have the Weather channel installed on my phone and Disneyworld is one of my locations, so I've been checking the weather down there often and it has been fairly warm.

Thanks for the comment on the tree! I just love the smell of the tree and it would not be the same without real candles!

I am glad you didn't get ill. Nothing worse, than being ill while on holiday! But us teachers always seem to time it so we can be ill during holidays!

Yip, just 55 more days! When I go back to work we will be down to 40 days ...... that is something I cannot believe!
Let's keep our fingers crossed the weather stays nice and warm when we get there! But then, anything that does not include several inches of snow will seem "warm" to us!
Did you get lots of snow with the storm that is hitting the east coast? I hope not! Stay warm!

Can't believe I didn't know about this before !!!nywho I am all caught up!!
I love your Christmas Tree ,I found it hard to adjust to the American Trees which are much fuller !!I missed my European style ones for a long time !!!

I did very well on my 50% OFF shopping and have all the papere, bags etc I should need for at least a next year !!!

You found it now, Rosie!!
I was pretty pleased with the tree too! Ours always seem so different from the US trees.

Well done on the shopping! I wish we had something similar here!
Only 363 days until the next Christmas Eve! We need to think about presents soon!

 

[DaveInTN]

You picked the wrong time to come to Russia and go through Europe! Did you have any delays at the airports while coming through?
It definitely IS beautiful, but the shovelling of the snow and the slipping and the cold is NOT what I like to think about!
And the temperatures have dropped so far, it really is SO cold and winter has just begun, quite some time before the temperatures are getting warmer again!

So you got a white Christmas? Good for you! It is a very pretty thing for Christmas, really captures the spirit of the season!
Hope everything goes well with your adoption plans!

Considering all the winter weather around the northern hemisphere, we were REALLY lucky that we faced no delays either on the way to or home from Russia.

Thank you for the well wishes on our adoption. We had a great visit with our little Anna...which is what we have decided to name her once we found out her real name is Anastasia. We are looking forward to a court date now to get this finalized. Hopefully in a couple months.

Glad you are feeling better. And it won't be long now before you are back at the World!!

 

[Minnie&Nana]

Karin, your tree is lovely! Oh, and the real candles - beautiful!

Christmas Eve warched a Rick Steves Holiday special - Christmas in 7 Countries. I must be more European than American because many of the traditions were ones that my family has always celebrated. Christmas Eve is Christmas for us too, but this year we had to celebrate on Christmas day as we were quite behind in preparation with our little Jackie being so ill.

Anyway, I loved the German & Italian traditions, but am now ready to spend every Christmas in Austria - be still my heart - perfect, except for the cold!

I'm so glad you are feeling better and have time to rest and recuperate. It is too bad Tom had to work right away - so many do. I think everyone should have Christmas Eve, Christmas and the day after off at the very least - paid, of course!

December 26th has no secular celebration - other than those who hit the shops for huge discounts. For our family it is the Feast of the Holy Family and the week is almost full of other feast - one, Holy Innocents, is special for children - but the next secular holiday will be New Years Eve. Cannot believe the calendar will soon say 2011.

Enjoy your school break!

 

[cbg1027]

I would gladly trade some of our too hot days for some of your snowed-in days!

Your tree is beautiful and I love the Disney theme!

 

[Shaniyah]

Looking at your pictures is making me SO excited about my upcoming trip to CSR!!!

 

[A&A'sGrammy]

I don't usually read pretrip reports but I love your reports so much, I don't want to risk missing it!!! lol

I am sitting here in New England in the middle of a blizzard. I think we already have about a foot and a half of snow and it's supposed to snow at least 6-8 more hours. I guess that means we have a REALLY white post Christmas!!!

I hope you have toasty weather on your next trip!

 

[englishrose47]

Just adding to the Holiday Traditions !!In England December 26th is Boxing Day !!! It has it's roots in the fact that the RICH would box up gifts and food the Day after Christmas and deliver to the Poor !! Somehow it was also a big Fox Hunting Day and I have vivid mempries of seeing all the Red coated Huntsmen on the beautiful horses with the Hounds all barking and eager for the Hunt!!! As a child I don't think I gave it much thought past seeing the Horses !!!

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Karin. I'm glad you are on the mend! We call December 26th, "return gifts you don't want and buy Christmas lights and paper on clearance for next year day."

I love the pics of your tree! It looks like the trees we had when I was a little girl - I mean the type of tree and the shape. Love all your Disney ornaments! We have bought a dated ornament or a special ornament for that year from places we have visited - each year we were married. After 30 years, our tree is mostly dated - lots from Disney!

I'm glad some of the packages are starting to make it. I knew about the security issue, but they were reporting it long over before your package incident - apparently it was downplayed over here.

Looking forward to more news!

 

[dizneeat]

Considering all the winter weather around the northern hemisphere, we were REALLY lucky that we faced no delays either on the way to or home from Russia.

Thank you for the well wishes on our adoption. We had a great visit with our little Anna...which is what we have decided to name her once we found out her real name is Anastasia. We are looking forward to a court date now to get this finalized. Hopefully in a couple months.

Glad you are feeling better. And it won't be long now before you are back at the World!!

No delays? You WERE lucky!!!

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you and your DW, so you can bring home your fifth little princess soon! And I think Anna is a perfect name for her, how considerate of you to use her real name in it!

Only 54 more days to go until WDW! Can you tell I am excited?

Karin, your tree is lovely! Oh, and the real candles...sigh....

The other day I was a Rick Steves Holiday special - Christmas in 7 Countries. I must be more European than American because many of the traditions were ones that my family has always celebrated. Christmas Eve is Christmas for us too, but this year we had to celebrate on Christmas day as we were quite behind in preparation with our little Jackie being so ill.

Anyway, I loved the German & Italian traditions, but am now ready to spend every Christmas in Austria - be still my heart - perfect, except for the cold!

I'm so glad you are feeling better and have time to rest and recuperate. It is too bad Tom had to work right away - so many do. I think everyone should have Christmas Eve, Christmas and the day after off at the very least - paid, of course!

December 26th has no secular celebration - other than those who hit the shops for huge discounts. For our family it is the Feast of the Holy Family and the week is almost full of other feast - one, Holy Innocents, is special for children - but the next secular holiday will be New Years Eve. Cannot believe the calendar will soon say 2011.

Enjoy your school break!

Thank you for the comments on the tree. This is what we get to buy here. They are now starting to sell artificial trees, but I don't think they are doing well! To many people like the scent of the tree and candles!

Stick to your "European" traditions! Just don't put pickles on your tree! That is ONE tradition that NO one here has ever heard about! But I started another tradition - I hide an antenna topper in the tree!

It is just so unfortunate that ALL the holidays fall at the weekend this Christmas/New Year. Usually Tom has to work on the 24th, but then gets the 25th and 26th off. This year these were Saturday and Sunday! I can tell you, he was NOT amused!
December 26 IS a holiday here. Everything is closed for the Christmas holidays, so you better think about what you will need for the holidays beforehand, because there is no way to get anything once it is Christmas Eve! It's back to business on the 27th!

But I wish we would have a huge discounts day here too! Would make it so much easier to stock up!

 

[dizneeat]

I would gladly trade some of our too hot days for some of your snowed-in days!

Your tree is beautiful and I love the Disney theme!

Thank you!
And ......... are you sure you want to trade your nice sunny days with black ice, sleet and chilly winds?
If so ....... I am all in for it!

Looking at your pictures is making me SO excited about my upcoming trip to CSR!!!

CSR is wonderful! Have you looked at Kathy's (KatMark) thread about it? We really enjoyed our stay last time!
I am sure you will too!

I don't usually read pretrip reports but I love your reports so much, I don't want to risk missing it!!! lol

I am sitting here in New England in the middle of a blizzard. I think we already have about a foot and a half of snow and it's supposed to snow at least 6-8 more hours. I guess that means we have a REALLY white post Christmas!!!

I hope you have toasty weather on your next trip!

Oh, how nice of you to come over!
And thanks so much for reading my other reports!

We had reports of your blizzard on the news here. Not something I would love to experience right now. I just hope you don't have to go anywhere those next few days!

Just adding to the Holiday Traditions !!In England December 26th is Boxing Day !!! It has it's roots in the fact that the RICH would box up gifts and food the Day after Christmas and deliver to the Poor !! Somehow it was also a big Fox Hunting Day and I have vivid mempries of seeing all the Red coated Huntsmen on the beautiful horses with the Hounds all barking and eager for the Hunt!!! As a child I don't think I gave it much thought past seeing the Horses !!!

Thanks for clearing up Boxing Day, Rosie!! I knew what it was called, but did not know where its origin was! But boxing up the gifts makes sense!
And I do remember the Fox Hunting from the time I visited my aunt in Britain for Christmas! You just brought back some really fun memories! Thank you!

Hi Karin. I'm glad you are on the mend! We call December 26th, "return gifts you don't want and buy Christmas lights and paper on clearance for next year day."

I love the pics of your tree! It looks like the trees we had when I was a little girl - I mean the type of tree and the shape. Love all your Disney ornaments! We have bought a dated ornament or a special ornament for that year from places we have visited - each year we were married. After 30 years, our tree is mostly dated - lots from Disney!

I'm glad some of the packages are starting to make it. I knew about the security issue, but they were reporting it long over before your package incident - apparently it was downplayed over here.

Looking forward to more news!

Oh my god, I love the "return gifts you don't want and buy Christmas lights and paper on clearance for next year day" Day!!!
I hope my pupils will be able to remember all that when I make them learn it by heart! Just kidding!

Thank you for commenting on the tree. I love the idea of the dated ornaments! Brings back lots of memories, doesn't it? We have a few ornaments which go on every year and they bring back so many fond memories.

I was SO surprised when I found out that one of the packages had actually made it to the US, esp. since I had asked for it at the PO and they had told me it was still held in Vienna.
The only thing that really bothers me is that the Austrian PO still doesn't post anywhere why they can't send on packages.

 

[Stefy]

So far your package has not arrived ......... YET!! Don't worry too much, the PO did only deliver until midday on Friday and I am sure they ARE backed up. My aunt from Orpington sent 3 parcels all the same day and the first one made it in a week, the last one took 2 1/2 weeks. Don't know HOW that is possible, but that's the way the PO seems to work during holidays!

Thanks for the compliments on the tree - I love my Disney trees! We have so many Disney Ornaments I can't even put all of them up!

Hope your Christmas was wonderful too! Only 2 more days until your DLRP visit - I hope we get a short review of it too!

Fingers crossed it turns up soon

Yep, not long now can't wait Can you believe we don't really have a plan other than where we are eating and which parks we are going too. I think we are just going to savour being there and not go all commando like we do with WDW. Do you think thats a bad idea?

 

[Minnie&Nana]

EIGHT inches of snow for Christmas in NC!! Sophia LOVED it! She will not walk in the snow, only on the shoveled sidewalk. She will pick it up and throw it though. Posted some pics on FB. Tried to post a short video, but it took over an hour for it to upload and then it disappeared!!!

The news keeps saying it is the first white Christmas in 40 yrs, but we had snow on the ground last Christmas too - just not actually snowing on Christmas day. This year it snowed all day Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Guess for statistics, it only counts as a white Christmas if it snows on Christmas Day It is fun, but not so much for those who planned to travel. Roads treacherous and flights canceled.

Very few were able to get out for the "return gifts you don't want and buy Christmas lights and paper on clearance for next year day." Perfect description of the 26th!

One Target manager was on the phone with the local news yesterday, saying she was at the store at 4 a.m. and customers were waiting at the door at 7 a.m., for the store to open. The manager did admit to have a "skimpy crew". This all with treacherous driving conditions! The things people will do for a sale!

The storm moved up to our former home in Boston -they are getting hit hard, Wish I was there! My friend and I would take the subway to the beach and walk on the beach n a blizzard - so much more fun than NC. Those were the days!

It will be in the 50's here on Friday! I can definitely hand that!!! New Years would be perfect with Spring temps!

Hope you are feeling much better.

 

[LisaKeys]

I am so enjoying your TR! I am so glad I found you through Tina.

Your Christmas tree is lovely. Are those real candles? Americans are so ruined by our perfect trees, it's charming to see tree's in their natural shape the way they used to be when I was very young. I do believe I will look for a natural real tree to put up next year!

Your trip will be here b4 you know it. I can hardly believe we will be in FL in 2 weeks exactly. We can barely wait.

I am going to look at your previous TR's since I read by a few of your followers that you have fantastic photo's along with great writings.

Read you soon!

 

[jenseib]

I LOVE your tree. I have always loved the ones that are shaped like that. Unfortunately I always have a hard time finding one like that here. The one place we go only has a few kinds and they are "shaped" in the summer to keep that perfect form. I need to look elsewhere next year.

 

[dizneeat]

Fingers crossed it turns up soon

Yep, not long now can't wait Can you believe we don't really have a plan other than where we are eating and which parks we are going too. I think we are just going to savour being there and not go all commando like we do with WDW. Do you think thats a bad idea?

It will get here eventually. And we will love it!

I cannot believe you are at DLRP already! Hope you enjoy your stay to the fullest!
No need to make "huge" plans. The parks are so close together, you can actually walk from one park to the other in 3 minutes!

EIGHT inches of snow for Christmas in NC!! Sophia LOVED it! She will not walk in the snow, only on the shoveled sidewalk. She will pick it up and throw it though. Posted some pics on FB. Tried to post a short video, but it took over an hour for it to upload and then it disappeared!!!

The news keeps saying it is the first white Christmas in 40 yrs, but we had snow on the ground last Christmas too - just not actually snowing on Christmas day. This year it snowed all day Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Guess for statistics, it only counts as a white Christmas if it snows on Christmas Day It is fun, but not so much for those who planned to travel. Roads treacherous and flights canceled.

Very few were able to get out for the "return gifts you don't want and buy Christmas lights and paper on clearance for next year day." Perfect description of the 26th!

One Target manager was on the phone with the local news yesterday, saying she was at the store at 4 a.m. and customers were waiting at the door at 7 a.m., for the store to open. The manager did admit to have a "skimpy crew". This all with treacherous driving conditions! The things people will do for a sale!

The storm moved up to our former home in Boston -they are getting hit hard, Wish I was there! My friend and I would take the subway to the beach and walk on the beach n a blizzard - so much more fun than NC. Those were the days!

It will be in the 50's here on Friday! I can definitely hand that!!! New Years would be perfect with Spring temps!

Hope you are feeling much better.

I saw the photos and video on FB! Sophia is such a little doll!

Guess what, you made it into the evening news here in good old Europe. They were showing pictures of NYC, of Times Square and we nearly fell over with all the snow and then they mentioned that even NC had gotten quite a lot of snow and that it was very dangerous to drive because of the sleet and black ice.

In the 50s for New Years Eve!!! Lucky you! It is soooooo cold here and I am getting really sick of all the snow!
Now, we are used to winters like that, but the last few years we just only had a few "snow days", so the continuing snow is just "different". I am happy I don't have to go out early and drive to the country, but poor Tom leaves the house at 4am and is outside for most of the day! NO fun!! :sad2

I am so enjoying your TR! I am so glad I found you through Tina.

Your Christmas tree is lovely. Are those real candles? Americans are so ruined by our perfect trees, it's charming to see tree's in their natural shape the way they used to be when I was very young. I do believe I will look for a natural real tree to put up next year!

Your trip will be here b4 you know it. I can hardly believe we will be in FL in 2 weeks exactly. We can barely wait.

I am going to look at your previous TR's since I read by a few of your followers that you have fantastic photo's along with great writings.

Read you soon!

Hi! Welcome! I just love new readers!
Thanks for the comment on the tree. Yes, these are real candles. Most people here still have real candles. The other thing is that we only put our trees up on Christmas Eve (usually - I put mine up a little earlier, I just love to look at it when the presents are still UNDER the tree! ).

Lucky you, being in Florida in just two weeks! I hope you are going to have a blast ......... and warm weather!

Thanks for giving my other reports/reviews a look. The photos might be quite nice, not so sure about the texts - please keep in mind, that English is a foreign language for me! Sorry for any mistakes!!

I LOVE your tree. I have always loved the ones that are shaped like that. Unfortunately I always have a hard time finding one like that here. The one place we go only has a few kinds and they are "shaped" in the summer to keep that perfect form. I need to look elsewhere next year.

Thank you!
These are the only trees (apart from artificial ones) that you can buy here. We have farmers who specialize in growing Christmas trees and they are mostly a nice shape and ver even on all sides.
But they look so very different from your American trees!

I am so jealous that you already have your itinerary in place! I still need to sit down and do mine! Not that I don't love doing that!

 

[dizneeat]

Okay, time for a short update - kind of!

We got mail today!!!
Well it's not uncommon to get mail every day, but today we got special mail!

There were Christmas cards from Yuki and Tina and her family! Thank you both SO much for thinking of us!
WE LOVED THEM BOTH!!!!!!!!!

And ........
we finally finished our turkey today! Every year we try to buy a "small" turkey and then it takes us 4 days to finish the thing off! As much as I love my turkey dinner at Christmas I am happy now that it is off the menu!

Oh, and about that planning issue ......
I DID change a few of my ADRs around. I guess it is a sign of feeling better!
I changed our Plaza ressie from 4.30 to 2.45 and hit the jackpot scoring a LeCellier dinner towards the beginning of the trip.
Unfortunately I had to find another ressie for Via Napoli, which was on the plan for that day, but I was able to get that one too!
Now, if only I could remember ALL the changes, so I can get down to do my planning!