Sue Goes To Disneyland 1968 On Christmas Eve

How does Darth Vader like his Christmas turkey? On the dark side.

Today is tradition day…we are off to see “A Christmas Carol” at South Coast Repertory Theater, our 32nd year!  Today we have the Liles’ family, “a” Duda (Nick), the Adams, Crazy Greg, and two “newbies”, Nancy Adamson, and Lee Barachmen.

Nancy has danced with since the turn of the century (2000 for you smart alecks)  and Lee was my High School sweetie! 

Bob and Robin are winging their way home from Mexico where they stayed for a week celebrating Robin’s 55th… now she is an adult!  Funny story…tradition is so important that Bob and Robin got early tickets and went to see the show so they would not miss the tradition!

We really miss Colleen & Mark and the kids…with them the family would be complete!

But first, the Christmas memory of the day!

Christmas Memory #15 – Disneyland Christmas Eve

Sue and her family had just driven to their new home in California from New Jersey making a new home in the wild west.   Her father worked fo Century Gloves and he knew no one on the West Coast…he was the pioneer for the company.   The year was 1965 and Sue was still in Junior High School (I was at USC so no chance, yet, that we would meet)

It was December and they had no idea what to do since there was no snow3 Frank, Sue’s father; said “We are NOT going to sit home…We are going to celebrate”.  So, he bundled everybody up in their winter attire (shorts and sandals) and went to Disneyland on Christmas Eve.

It was a little different 53 years ago as Disneyland had only been opened eight years and the trees were still small!  It’s a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion were still on the drawing board. But, it was “The Happiest Place On Earth”.

This was the start of something big!  From that day foreword, Sue made it to Disneyland EVERY Christmas Eve including this year…God willin’ and the creeks don’t rise!  We even went the year of her major back surgery wheeling her in on her wheelchair to watch the parade and then back home. 

Being a native of California, I never thought of going to Disneyland on Christmas Eve but when Sue and I got together, I joined the tradition in 1987 and off we went!  Sue’s Mom, Rita, joined us for many years until she passed in 1999.  This will be my 29th year; Sue has us beat!

Now, every year we go and of course, our guests have expanded.  We now always go with the Linds (Zack & Becca & Lilly) and the Duda’s (Robin, Bob, and Nick).  TRADITION! This will be Zack and Becca’s third year and Robin and Bob’s 12th year!

For a couple of years we took the Chartier’s and the Lind’s (about 20 years ago).

Nowadays, we buy the “Christmas Walking Tour” so we get an escort around the park and we get front row seats for the parade plus a hot chocolate and tookie!  Can’t have a parade without a tookie!

When we mention this to the tour guide they always want to know what it was like.  I was actually there on opening day July 1955 so I have a real perspective.

We have never missed even the year of Sue’s major back surgery in November, we wheeled our way into the park, watched the parade and then back home…just so we could keep the tradition going.

This year will be 53 years…half a century of tradition!

The year is 2017 and we are with the Lind’s and Duda’s.  The Rain Forest Cafe is our first stop for breakfast (this year we must change as the Rain Forest is gone).

We are off…first we picked up Nancy so she could ride with us and we headed for Season’s 52 for lunch!  Lee lives in south OC so she went directly.  We have gone to Seasons 52 for the last several years and it is always very good.  When it came time to pay the bill I pulled out my card, looked down the table and there is Franklyn and Joe with their Cheshire Cat grins on their faces…they had managed to dupe the old man and the Adams and Liles treated us to lunch!

Sue was “upset” as she wants to make this a present for everyone but she quickly got over it… so thoughtful!  Thank you Michele, Franklyn and Theo  and Joe, Amy, Charlie, and Alex!

The important people… our grandsons!  Theo, Nick, Alex & Charlie.  They were so well behaved… I mean just like adults…even though they were playing a game, they were quite and respectful of other…we are a) so proud of them and b) so very very proud of their parents!

We departed Seasons 52 at 2:00 PM and made our way across the street to South Coast Repertory arriving just in time. 

We had three groups of seats this year so we put “the kids” down front…Alex, Charlie, Theo, and Nick all commented on how close they were,

The “ol’ folks sat in row J and we also had great seats!  At the break, we popped our and had a drink and stretched our legs.  We caught Sue, Michele, Theo and Nick in the bar!

We stayed in the theater a few minutes and got a group picture! Nick and the Adams escaped before we could catch them but we will get them next year!

Upon returning home, we relaxed for an hour and then off again…in a blinding flash, we went to the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts to see “The Nelson Family Christmas” starring Mathew and Gunnar Nelson, the twin children of Ricky Nelson. 

Frankly I was put off by the loud drums and guitars but U was NOT put off by their messages.  They talked a lot about Ozzie and Harriett Nelson, their grandparents and about Ricky, their father.

Not merely a rock concert with a few holiday songs thrown in, Christmas with the Nelsons delivers Christmas classics the Nelson family way. Interweaving quick humor, soaring sibling vocals, and state-of-the-art big screen video, Matthew and Gunnar’s completely new show will take you on a sleigh ride through time.

From the “Holly Jolly” 50s when their father, Ricky, was a little boy intent on duct-taping antlers to the family cat…to the 70s’ when “Santa Claus Came to Town” delivering Schwinns for the twins in the era before bike helmets…to “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” today with the newest generation of Nelson family kids, who prove that yes, they did in fact turn out to be just like their parents after all…

The loud music was redeemed at the end of the show when they asked the audience to sing “Silent Night” and we did, quite nicely and we used the bouncing ball!  Brian and Jan, Sue and I were all singing and smiling and the boys were quite right… Do not believe all the naysayers, the news is fake only to sell papers and commercials…they are a lot right with the world!

At home we decided no Christmas movie or tookie tonight…too late.  We watched NCIS New Orleans Season 5 Episode 1 and then crashed.  It was another good day!