Christmas Town

The weekend before Christmas we went to the Credles. We got there late Friday night, and Chip met up with his high school friend, Brian, who was a groomsman in our wedding, Saturday morning for breakfast. 

They have a son, Noah, who we met for the first time at the NICU in Yorktown. It was our first experience with the NICU. Noah, like Dan & Belle, was born premature. But, boy look at him now. And, look at that playroom! Oh my.

The handsome boys at breakfast.

That afternoon we went to Christmas Town at Busch Gardens.

  

We had a 1:30 reservation for Santa's Fireside Feast.

Same Santa and Mrs. from the last 3 years. They are so warm and friendly. 

Mesmerized as usual.

The feast was yummy, too. Pretty much same food as last year. Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, corn, stuffing, Swedish meatballs, rolls, salad, chili, pasta. Oh, and new this year - hotdogs. Dan was the only one who got one of those, though he didn't eat much of it. 

Another wonderful telling of "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Mrs. Claus always makes her rounds. The elf does too, but we didn't get any pictures with him. He asked the kids if they were here last year and said he remembered them. 

Here's some of the professional pictures we purchased:

After filling ourselves with some yummy desserts, we set out to explore Christmas Town.

There were some rides open this year, so the kids rode some and also explored Oscar's Yucky Forest (pictured here) over at Sesame.

New this year- Rudolph & Friends! 

Me with my favorite elf - Hermie!!
He just wants to be a dentist. Little Hermie, the misfit elf. 

We all had full bellies but thanks to MaMaw for being a trooper the kids still got to ride. 

The PhotoKey we purchased back in the spring even applied to Christmas Town, so we got all the photos made by the photographers. 131 professional photos from BG & WC this season. I'd say it was well worth the $60 we paid initially. 

We rode the train, saw "Scrooge No More" show, and rode several rides. We left around 7 from what was a pretty full day. Poor Belle had a fever the night before as she was just starting to get a cold, but she was such a trooper. Besides for her coughing and runny nose, you never would have known she was sick. It was a fun, memorable day.