Home to the USA and Christmas at Disney!

We got to NC early on Dec 6th and we had a long day ahead of us. When you fly to Africa you arrive exhausted but it's 9:30pm so you just go to bed, sleep all night and you're practically over your jet-lag. When you fly to the USA you arrive exhausted at 9am and you have to get through the day. If you nap you're toast because you'll be up at 3am fighting jet lag! We got to see everyone and check out the distillery though and that made the day go by much easier. And then we found our pile of mail and saw this!

These are brand-new at Disney. They are your room key, dining, photopass, fastpass, park tickets, you name it and they are super cool! What a new way to get excited about your trip. They came in this groovy box all customized with our chosen colors and our names on them. To make them fit a kid you just peel off the grey part and voila! You have a magic band that fits a much smaller wrist. Kids wanted to wear them right away but I was afraid they would get lost so I made everybody wait.

In the meantime.... we had a new cousin to meet! Jacob is absolutely adorable and perfect and we all tried to give him as many snuggles as we could in our one week in NC.

Proud big cousin!

Teddy's a natural!

We took a day and went to the Biltmore house to see all the Christmas decorations. What a fantastic place! I couldn't take pictures of all the wonderful trees inside because they do not allow photography. I will make this up to you in Disney pics.... I promise!

Trying to pet the Biltmore fish:

On our last night we all got together for some yummy Paleo pizza. It was a good visit!

But then we were off to experience Christmas at Disney for the first time! We tried something new and flew down the night before, staying at an Airport hotel so we could maximize our first day in the World without having to get up at 5am. We slept in, had breakfast and then jumped in the car. 20 minutes later we were driving under that archway!

....and checking into Boardwalk! This was a great place to stay. I'm not sure I liked the theming as well as Beach Club, but Boardwalk has my favorite restaurants on property and you can't beat being able to walk to Epcot AND the Studios!

Inside the resort was fully decked out for the Holidays with a gingerbread-covered stand selling holiday treats. It made the whole lobby smell amazing!

We checked in and got a great room overlooking the pool and the canal.

Then we headed off to check out all the Christmas displays at the Magic Kingdom resorts. Mom only had a 5 day pass so we didn't want to blow a park day on our arrival day. Visiting the resorts and having a great afternoon swim was the perfect way to spend our first day. First stop was the Grand Floridian where they have a HUUUUUUGE gingerbread house.

It's so big that they sell slabs of gingerbread and other treats right out of the backside of the house. And it smells so good that it's hard not to buy a piece just to see if it tastes as good as it smells....

There's also a magnificent Christmas tree...

Next the kids and I ran into the MK to play one round of Sorcerers. We had 5 rounds to go to beat the game on medium so we wanted to start knocking them out! The Magic Kingdom was beautifully decked out for the holidays:

Then we met Mom at the Contemporary. They had a gingerbread Christmas tree in the style of Mary Blair - Small World artist and creator of the 5 legged goat.

Then it was back to the Grand Floridian for fancy tea. They did a 4 course high tea for us - all Gluten-free and it was delish!

After that we headed back to Boardwalk. The kids were amped to check out the pool and try out that Kiester-Coaster slide. (Ok, so maybe I was amped too....)

That night we headed downstairs to my very favorite restaurant on property, Flying Fish. This place is everything, amazing food, incredible atmosphere, and great staff.

In fact celebrity Chef Tim Keating came and sat down at our table and chatted with us for about 15 minutes! He was our chef when we did the wine paring dinner 2 years ago and he is really a down to earth, wonderful guy.

Then Grammy and Teddy headed back to the room but Sasha and I snuck off and ran into Epcot to see Illuminations with the Christmas tag at the end. This special tag is only added for a few weeks a year and we just couldn't wait to see it. It took our breath away! There are more fireworks in the air during the finale than you have ever seen before and the ground literally shakes and you can feel the explosions shake the ground and vibrate right through your body. It was amazing, worth waiting for, and such a great capper on our first day!