Disney World (Day 1)

Disney.World.

This trip was a year + in the works.  It was a secret, which added all that much more stress.  We didn't tell anyone but a handful of people because we were determined that Maris would not find out until the day we left.  It worked, but next time I think we'll just tell the kids ahead of time!

Day 1 was spent traveling down, checking in, and a quick trip to the Magic Kingdom for some adventure and then dinner.  We ate at Whispering Canyon in the Wilderness Lodge.

Main Street at Magic Kingdom

Wilderness Lodge

Final Stop on the Crazy Christmas Train

Johnny and I were barely standing and the girls were in rare form by now, but we had one more stop.  We traditionally enjoy Christmas Day dinner with my mom's side of the family down on the farm.

On the day after Christmas, Maris woke up at 8:30 and Paige slept an hour past that.  Johnny had taken the day off so we let the girls play with their new toys all day.  It was the best thing we could have asked for after our whirlwind Christmas!

Oh and it snowed a little bit.  Finally!!!

Just a little blizzard.

Small children don't feel cold, right?  They would have stayed out there for hours!

Crazy Christmas Train - Stop 4

Are you tired yet?  We were!

Santa spoiled the girls again this year.  No matter how much we plan on him cutting back, he keeps showing up with gobs of gifts.
 

Both girls were so funny.  They wanted to really inspect each and every gift if not open it right up and play with it.  It took hours to open the presents.

Coming downstairs in the morning!

She looks excited to dig in!

This one was a big hit.

Santa always brings Erie a gift too.  This year, a dinosaur bone.

LEGO ornament

A make-up doll was the one thing she asked Santa for.

Well good morning, Sleepyhead!

Paige was very excited to get her own chair just like Sissy's!

It was a nice relaxing Christmas morning!

Crazy Christmas Train - Stop 3

The Campana Christmas Eve is my favorite holiday tradition! We eat spaghetti and shrimp and drink wine.  Cousins exchange names and adults don't exchange at all (save for a quick 'exchange game') so there are very few gifts.   My parents really did up the Italian theme this year.  I loved the table settings and green/white/red colors everywhere.  The adult exchange game was Italian themed.  Everyone brought fun gifts made in Italy or from Italy. 

Paige with cousin Katelyn

Maris with cousin Kelsey

Me and my dad

Now that is a good looking bunch of people!  Campana cousins (minus 7 first and 4 second cousins)

It was such a fun night!

Crazy Christmas Train - Stop 2

Grandma Molly and Grandpa Corey were hosting the Campana Christmas Eve (Stop 3) so they came to our house to exchange gifts instead of our usual plan of going there.  Paige was slightly more interested in opening gifts when there were 5 people watching her instead of 30.  Just slightly.

They got Cabbage Patch dolls that look just like them. They were very excited!

Maris loves (the idea of) barrel racing.  So cool that my parents found this barrel racing set!

Crazy Christmas Train - Stop 1

The Hughes family Christmas in which Maris picks up every cousin she comes across, Paige wants to spend 100% of her time going up and down stairs and 0% of her time opening presents, and Maris gets her first black eye.  It was fun though!

Maris with three of her cousins.

Do you know how hard it is to get this many people to look at one camera?

Christmas Activities

We got into the spirit big time this year.

First, we had our North Pole Breakfast.  The girls were so excited to see our elf on the shelf, Christopher, had returned!

 Christopher had lots of fun this year.

He built marshmallow snowmen.

And colored pictures.

And wished hard for a white Christmas.

Next we visited Santa at Petitti's.

We love our Petitti's Santa.

We made projects.

Felt Christmas tree... "so they have one to decorate and they leave yours alone!" Yea right.

You'll never guess which belongs to Paige.

We had a playdate Christmas party.  Wow, everyone is getting big!

Missing just one.  Easton was camera shy that day.

We headed to Tower City for Mr. Kringle's Inventionasium.  What a neat way to visit Santa.  They really do a great job of making it special and exciting.  Johnny and I are known to pinch our pennies, so we weren't thrilled by the cost.  Paige was free, but adults pay full price.  I would much rather have paid for Paige and either been free or discounted myself.  All I did was walk around and make sure my kid didn't pull ornaments off the trees.  Not worth the $16 it cost Johnny and I to get in, if you ask me.  The girls loved it though and that's.what.counts.

Brainstorming

In the Grow Snow Laboratory.  Okay this part was cool.

Count the Hughes family as ready for Christmas!