In our quest for experiences over things, this year we offered our kids a choice: our usual Christmas with lots of packages to open on Christmas Day or a trip to Disneyland, a Macklemore concert and a small Christmas morning focused on one another, not the gifts as much. They chose Disneyland!
High points from the trip:
- Riding the Haunted Mansion with Jack and Sally several times was so much fun.
- Nighttime ride on the Mark Twain because the Santa Ana winds were too crazy (we were there for the start of the California fires).
- Our kids bonded and held hands while they walked around the park. Boof- right in the heart!
- Appropriately aged boys checked Guinevere out and it was so cute to see her unaffected non-reaction followed by a smirk and blush as they passed. Cute little 14 year old.
- Jude was a sweet little boy while we were there. Disneyland allows him to embrace that imaginative, little kid while he’s there and for a little while, we have a little, young family again. Plus a teenager. We always had a teenager.
- I was the runner who went back to the hotel and ran errands. There’s something about being that guy who saves the day and puts a little extra energy in that feels good.
- I got one of the famous Disney candy canes in the last day. I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but somehow it was one of my favorite experiences from the trip!
