“Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.”
Our tradition again begins! It’s 9:30AM and we are heading the nine miles east down Katella to the Happiest Place On Earth, Disneyland. Paul refrains from yelling at the reindeer since they have to work so hard tonight. It’s been 53 years without a miss! We told the kids about how in 2003, after Sue was laid up with the back-to-back back operations, we wen to Disneyland Christas eve.
She had been in the hospital for two solid weeks, most of it in ICU, and got out on the 17th of November. Six weeks later I bundled her up and we went to Disneyland Christmas Eve for just the parade. In and out but we did it!
Christmas Emery #24 – Today, Another Christmas Memory!
We arrived at Disneyland at 10:00 AM and went to Catal for breakfast and it ewas pretty good. The Lind’s and the Duda’s joined us so we had kids, grandkids and great grandkids…generations!
After breakfast we high-tailed it to the entrance to Disneyland and then tot he Tour Office. We procured tickets to the 12:45 AM tour which walked us around California Adventure and then Disneyland ending up with a ride on “It’s A Small World” before sitting to watch the parade.
We got our hot chocolate and gingerbread “tookie” and watched the parade form the best seat in the house!
When the parade was over we split up with the kids heading to the Haunted Mansion and headed for the bar…duh!
We met some nice people at the bar who are also Catal regulars. Te kids showed up at 6:00 PM and we had dinner. By the end of the day, I was ready to come home so we did. We watched a Christmas movie and crashed!
The most memorable part is sitting and laughing at talking with FOUR generations. Robin and Bob, Zack and Becca, and Lilly and Nick (Remy just smiles a lot). When you see the kids/grandkids memories just pour forth…some tears byt mostly big smiles!
We miss Michele (who is in New Orleans), Colleen (who is in New Hampshire) and Joe (who is with his family and in-laws celebrating their traditions)…Hey, we are batting 250 and that ain’t bad! Where ever they are, we pray and hope they are thinkging onf the meaning of Christmas and enjoying being with family!
It is our hope that this tradition will continue for years to come!
See some snaps from todays memories below:
Downtown Disney’s Catal Restuarant & Uva Bar is where we have met for dinner since they opened about 15 years ago! We are like clockwork there!
Over the years we took the Lind parents (Mitch and Jeanette) and Chartier’s (Colleen and Pete) but the traditions did not seem to stick…could be the military deployments, geography, or their makeup but today’s group…they are like us, Disney people!
We walked about six miles today from the tour booth around California Adventure back through Disneyland and on to It’s A Small World! I ran my iPhone pedometer and captured the data! Now, it is time to sit!!
Someone else was ready to get out of the stroller and visit everybody. Four month young and already a Disney kinda guy!
We were on tour for several hours finally landing at the beginning of the parade in Fantasyland! Love to sit down after a long day of walking. We did go on It’s A Small World and all of us hummed the tune for the rest of the day!
Who is coming Master Remy? Is it Santa? Dang! It is! Let’s sing!
Great parade and the tookies and hot chocolate were not bad either! Now it is time to walk some more with us heading to the nearest bar!
The kids split and we went to the bar at Catal and met up with our Catal family…we know many of them quite well including our favorites, Valerie, Sante, Renee, and Leah. Like having dinner at home albeit a bit noisier!
Lilly was a fireball this evening making sure we got specific instructions for the passing of the crayolas! Between great uncle Bob and great grandpa Paul, we drove her crazy! We all had a load of fun!
Pose time… It’s also tradition!
This sign was right on this evening. Sure wish the Chartier’s could have joined us along with Colleen and Joe and Michele…but there is always next year!
Great Grandma Sue get’s 30 seconds to rest between Lilly’s instructional lessons in crayola passing.
What a great shot…. posing! What magazine cover should this by put on! Remember it is Christmas, so be nice!
We had a great, albeit tiresome, day. Falling to sleep and awaiting Santa was a no brainer! Around 2:30 AM, while minding my own business, I heard a clatter upon the roof. I jumped out to see if Santa was bringing me anything.
This little turd decided to roust around for three hours on the roof setting off the back, side and front yard security monitors. I was ready to strangle him at the end of the evening!
Finally got to sleep around 4:40 AM…he better not show uop tomorrow evening or I will get the shot gun ou!
