On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

……a Christmas vacation.  For this blog post I’ve decided to participate in Mama Kat’s Writer’s Workshop and answer the prompt: Describe how you would celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor. I would take a vacation during Christmas.

I would celebrate Christmas at Disney World.  Yes, yes, I know that I just got back, but I’ve never been there at Christmastime and I hear it’s very beautiful.  Of course we would stay in the biggest suite available and have a decorated Christmas tree with our own personal ornaments flown in from home.  The tree would be piled high with presents for everyone.  After spending Christmas Eve in Magic Kingdom, we would come back to our suite, where warm cookies and hot cocoa would be waiting.   Mickey, Minnie and all the Disney pals would join us for a Christmas sing-along before tucking us in bed.  The next day–Christmas Day–after opening all of our gifts (of course everything that we’ve ever wanted), we’ll hop around to each theme park with a turbo Fast Pass and never stand in line.  That night we would be honored guests in the SpectroMagic Parade.  *Sigh.*

OR

I would recreate the scene in Home Alone in the Plaza Hotel.  Remember when everyone ran downstairs on Christmas Day to see the huge tree spilling forth gifts?  When we lived in New Jersey we used to go to the Plaza for tea and it’s such a beautiful hotel.  Christmas in New York is so magical with the window displays, the tree at Rockafeller Center and carriage rides through Central Park.  I’ve haven’t done that since moving to Atlanta 6 years ago and I miss it.  I would do everything that I’ve done before–but this time stay in at the Plaza in Kevin’s Home Alone suite.

This is my son, age 4, at Rockafeller Center.  It’s one of my favorite photos.

OR

My daughter doesn’t remember snow (since she was under 2 years old when we moved south).  To someone who grew up in the mid-west (me), that’s a shame.  I would love to give her a white Christmas by renting a luxurious house in a snowy place like Vermont or Colorado.   Spending the days outside playing in the snow and the nights next to the roaring fire or in the hot tub would be so wonderful.

That is how I would like to celebrate Christmas.  And really I could do any one of these things now on a lesser scale (if not the Kevin suite at the Plaza, then a Marriott will do), but my family never wants to spend Christmas away from home.  They want to decorate gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve at their kitchen table.  They want bake cookies in their stove.  They want to roast marshmallows in their fireplace.  They want to sleep in their beds and run down their stairs in the morning to see what Santa left under their tree.   So for now I indulge them and do everything to make their Christmas special and memorable, just the way they like it.

Isn’t that what moms do?  And of course I enjoy every minute of it.

What about you: how would you celebrate the holidays if it was totally up to you and money was not a factor?

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The 12 Days of Christmas by Funkidivagirl

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me…..the words to the song.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me….Christmas cards.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me….Chili Dawg.