{Retro} Christmas Eve~December 24, 2011

Setting off for our first day at Disney Land. It was a beautiful, unbelievably sunny day. I could hardly make myself believe that it was Christmas Eve: for one thing there was no snow or freezing temperatures; for another thing, we had already celebrated Christmas at home.
Our great idea was to take Billy's new wagon with us into the Park to provide transportation for Abby, Caleb, Steven and/or our backpacks whenever needed.

Silly Scheri showing the way to carry two backpacks.

Truly this was a place where the orange trees and palm trees swayed.

This way to Disney Land--"the happiest place on earth."
We soon found out that our wagon-idea wouldn't fly. They wouldn't allow anything in the Park that was pulled behind a person. Since we didn't know they kindly lent us a wheelchair for Abby free of charge for the day and stored our wagon near the front entrance.


It was pretty tear-inducing to realize that Kevin and I had visited Disney Land on our honeymoon. Now here we were nearly 18 years later with our 7 children accompanying us. God has blessed us abundantly.

Waiting while Kevin traded in the vouchers he'd printed on our computer for the actual tickets.

A tiny portion of the huge Christmas tree there on Main Street

Steven, Mr. Clone, and James

Billy trying, and finally succeeding, to get his picture with the Clone dude.

"It's A Small World" castle. I still remember this attraction with fondness from my visit as a 6 year old.

This is one of MANY pictures Kevin and I took of the Christmas parade. There was such a huge crowd of people that we could barely see it--and Caleb and Steven wore out many necks as we tried to lift them high enough to see anything at all.




Here's another shot of our crew--hey! I'm even in this one!

This was Abby's favorite ride at Disney Land: Autotopia. She couldn't quite push hard enough on the pedal to make the car accelerate but she could steer--and LOVED it!





I was surprised how instantly chilly it became when the sun went down. James had to wear my sweatshirt because he hadn't thought to pack one today. (MOSTof us packed our backpacks much better on ensuing days)

"It's A Small World" beautifully lit up for the Christmas holidays.

Riding King Arthur's Carousel

It was a long day and here was Steven's reaction when we finally got to the restaurant.