Harry Potter World

We took a mini vacation after Christmas to Orlando for the ICE exhibit and Harry Potter World.

ICE was cold. Very very very cold.

It was themed for the movie A Christmas Story.

And had some truly beautiful craftmanship. Unfortunately, we were too cold to care.

Universal Studios was much more fun. We arrived as the park opened, along with 5 million or more tourists.

The Harry Potter area was awesome- very cool- very realistic. 

We got the interactive wands and loved doing all the tricks in the shop windows.

And OMG butterbeer was good. Think cream soda with a butterscotch foam.

So good.

We rode the train to Diagon Alley.

We recognized all the landmarks, because we watch all 8 of the Harry Potter movies every year in October.

The phone booth was funny for Dad, because we had no idea how to use the rotary phone dial. All the parents in the crowd were like "See?! That's how phones were when we were growing up, there were no SMART PHONES."

We skipped the best ride, Escape from Gringotts, because it was a 4 hour wait by lunch time.

We left when it became too difficult to navigate the epidemic of motorized carts.

But we had a 2 pound chocolate frog to keep us company.

We lovingly gnawed them to a warm melty nub while waiting an hour in line for the train.

Our parents love theme parks and crowds. They told us to enjoy our first and last visit to Universal.

We spent our last night having a blast at the hotel pool.

Merry Christmas!

Part of the fun of Christmas is the month leading up to it. We experience the joy of the season by meeting Santa, 

spending time with family over the winter break,

and creating gingerbread murder scenes out of candy.

Our hearts are filled with the peace and love of the holidays.

And we also heat the pool for December swims (mostly so we can send pictures to our cousins in Georgia when they're on a frost warning). 

The gifts on Christmas morning are pretty awesome, too.

But we'll probably remember the laughs and Dad's pancakes the most.

And the Skype sessions with our Boston family. Somebody should tell Nana where the camera lens is, lol.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is what we like to call Jesus's Birthday Party.

It's also a chance to get dressed up and capture gem pictures like this. We're still not exactly sure what Ryan is doing with his foot work, but we keep looking at it and laughing really hard. 

After church we eat dinner and open one gift from each other.

Mom won the year with Dad's gift: a cat shirt.

It's a great chance to get excited for Santa!

Like, Ryan level excited.

Murmel Murmel Murmel

We send a signal to the North Pole to send down our favorite elf by putting up our tree and setting up our Nativity Scene.

This year Murmel brought the fire. His tricks were lit.

Our favorite was his selfie scavenger hunt. He left pictures in a trail all over the house for us to follow and find him.

One night he led a fruity choir.

Most nights he just relaxed in a comfy spot.

Some nights he made mischief.

But he also completed important tasks, like taking care of our toys, 

and taking our plea for Fortnite letter to Santa.

We're going to miss the little guy!