2016 wasn’t a perfect year. We lost a Prince, and a Princess, and we gained a Trump … but it wasn’t all awful. Here are a handful of memories that I dug up this evening with the hopes that 2017 will be filled with even more joy and love and simple, goofy fun. Happy New…
Month: December 2016
December 30, 2016: Mantras for 2017…
I’ve spent a decent amount of time over the last couple of weeks both reflecting over the past year as well as looking forward into the next, and all in all, I’ve whittled my outlook down to three simple mantras… Life is good. Work harder. Have fun. Life is good. I don’t mean to brag…
December 29, 2016: Clear the Clutter
Tonight is the first night in about 2-3 months that I’ve been able to walk through my office without steering around and climbing over boxes, and I cannot begin to tell you how good it feels! Ever since the twins were born, my office has become a dumping ground for everything getting shuffled around as we worked…
December 28, 2016: Advanced Adulting for Parents – Life Insurance
No one wants to spend time thinking about their own demise, so let’s make this quick… 😉 A couple of months ago we decided to up our life insurance policies beyond their basic minimums for next year. It’s been something I’ve been putting off for a while and I’ve even tried getting a few quotes,…
December 23, 2016: The Great Christmas Light Fight
Particularly because we don’t get to see the Osborne Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios anymore, and possibly also because I really fell short with putting up my own lights this year, but I just started watching ABC’s The Great Christmas Light Fight this evening and, well, WOW!!! This year’s garage-only display aside, I used to think that I’ve done some…
December 21, 2016: That Which Once Was Broken…
Kids are why we can’t have nice things around here, I tell ya!!! 😯 On the left, we see Exhibit A – formerly known as Matthew’s 1st Christmas Ornament that we picked up for him while we were on vacation, broken less than 24 hours after we returned home because apparently Disney’s Christmas ornaments aren’t up to being tossed across…
December 20, 2016: Frosty the Snowman … Was Creepily Missing His Eyes
I suppose that’s what we get for electing Donald Trump and his pro-fossil fuel agenda, huh? 😉 Sara found these neat holiday door decorations at Target about a month ago and we proceeded to promptly lose them until just the other day when we finally said, “Hey, Christmas is almost here – maybe we should put…
December 17, 2016: Christmas Vacation 2016, In Retrospect
The worst part about going on vacation is that eventually you have to come home again. And check your credit card balance. Mostly the second one, really… Visiting Disney World during Christmastime has long been a staple excursion of ours, and after a few years ago making a proper trip out of mid-December, I’m not…
December 16, 2016: Jingle Bell, Jingle Bleh…
I really miss the Osborne Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. And I’m sure I’m not the only one, so we might as well get this out of the way first – the interim holiday show at the Studios … Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM … jingle sucks. It’s nowhere near the spectacle that the Osborne lights ever were, the story…
December 15, 2016: Snacking Around the Christmas Tree
I like to think that every kid remembers when their parents let them eat ice cream for breakfast when they were on vacation or got to splurge on one of those giant cookies that’s nearly the size of their head … and that’s basically what today was like! …and not just because I woke up to…
December 14, 2016: Christopher’s Day at the Magic Kingdom
Between enduring a really long (and yummy) dinner and an equally long (and awesome) fireworks show, we recognized that yesterday didn’t really have much for Christopher and he ended up spending a lot of the day strapped into his stroller, so today we wanted to make sure we had some things that he could enjoy…
December 13, 2016: Let There Be Peace on Earth
Today was a very non-traditional theme park day, in that we spent the afternoon and evening at Epcot and literally did not go on a single attraction! Instead, we had dinner, and we watched the Candlelight Processional, and then we snacked some more 😉 , and finally closed out the night with IllumiNations … which ended up…
December 12, 2016: Exhausted Christmas Vacation Arrival (AND SANTA!!!)
We made it! And everything fit in the car! And the day was filled with several meltdowns from each and every one of our kids! But we made it to Christmas vacation!!! 😀 The battle was long and arduous, beginning with maybe four hours of sleep since last night before resuming our vacation prep with reckless abandon….
December 11, 2016: The Last-Minute, Pre-Vacation Scramble…
I should be going to bed instead of writing this, but when it’s already 5am and you have to get up in a few hours, do an extra 15 minutes even matter that much anymore??? We had BIG plans for today – multiple loads of laundry, finishing putting up Christmas decorations, generally cleaning up the…
December 8, 2016: Scott’s Christmas Mix Tape, volume 5
For those of you new to my Holiday Advent Blog, one of the traditions that I’ve always made a habit of posting (almost) every year is a mix tape of sorts that features some of my favorite Christmas songs across a variety of themes. Over the years we’ve had: 2011 – Volume 1 – Holiday Memories 2012 – Volume…
December 7, 2016: Gingerbread Dreams
Do I even need to say that Sprinkles has the most awesomest cupcakes in the entire universe??? …or dare I say this time of year in the entire Winter Wonderland?! I mean, at least as much as Central Florida experiences “winter,” anyways… 😉 Tonight I topped off a stellar meal at Morimoto Asia over at Disney Springs…
December 6, 2016: Dancing Under the Snow!
Lately we’ve been trying to break Christopher of his fear of loud noises and bright lights, namely because we’re over at Disney a lot and we tend to stay for fireworks and a visit just isn’t complete until after fireworks … plus we’re going to be over there for our Christmas vacation pretty soon and it’s fair to…
December 5, 2016: Puttin’ Up the Lights
Well, I started, anyways, though after only an hour of putting lights up on the garage I’ve clearly still got a long ways to go! And yes, that makes me a bit of a hypocrite … thanks. 😛 So far my neighbors are really showing me up because a surprising number of them did follow my humor column-based decree and…
December 4, 2016: A Promise to Share the Wealth…
One of the important tenets that I’ve found myself trying to follow during this time of year – particularly as I’ve been getting older and have the means – is to make an effort to help those less fortunate than myself. ‘Tis the season to be sharing, Fred! 😉 Over the years we’ve been building a…
December 3, 2016: Yes, we need a little Christmas right this very minute!
I haven’t put our Christmas lights up yet, despite numerous sparkling decorations sprouting up around the neighborhood. And despite having an awesome Christmas vacation over at Disney World coming up in a little over a week, there’s an ever-growing to-do list looming between me and vacation that’s making it really hard to look forward to…
December 2, 2016: If They Gave a Prize for Being Mean…
“…the winner would be him!” I love me some Muppet Christmas Carol, and honestly I haven’t had a chance to watch it the last couple of years just because of Busy Life Syndrome, however back before TNT started the tradition of airing the Lord of the Rings trilogy for Thanksgiving, one of my fond memories of childhood around this time…
December 1, 2016: Why I *LOATHE* Elf on a Shelf…
Today’s humor piece over at Just Laugh was a bit of a rant about everyone’s beloved Christmastime tradition, the Elf on a Shelf. And how much I hate him. 😀 The thing is, thinking about it made me realize that it’s not even the goofy act of putting him in different scenarios each night for the kids to find that…