2014 Holiday Advent Blog – Day 21 – Exterior Decorating

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The photo hardly does our house’s glow justice, as we’ve heard several accounts of people stopping outside of the house to check out our lights from the sidewalk! So yeah – we’ve officially become that house now. 😛

I still consider this to be sort of phase 1 of our lights, though – we spent a bunch of money swapping out a good number of them for LEDs this year after having the bulk die out last year, and the new programmable ones that run along both the edge of the roof and around the palm to the far left have been pretty fun to change colors throughout the month, but I still feel that the yard itself needs work … partially due to the ginormous, stupid oak tree that currently dominates the center of the yard.

Hopefully between now and next Christmas we’ll be able to get that ugly beast removed, which will open up the entire yard to new possibilities! Still, a valiant effort considering that I didn’t really do much of anything last year. It’s probably safe to say that we won the neighborhood as far as light displays, though most of our neighbors are boring and didn’t really do anything, so they’re not the ones I’m comparing us to anyways.

Work in progress!!!

2014 Holiday Advent Blog – Day 16 – Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party

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In the many years that we’ve been going to Disney, one thing that we’ve never done is Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom, so this year we made special plans to take my sister and her family over for a special bit of holiday cheer while they’re visiting this week!

The highlights included:

  • Character greetings with Goofy & Minnie.
  • Watching my niece yell, “Hi, <insert character>!!!” to every character that passed us during the Christmas parade.
  • Watching my niece’s jaw thoroughly drop when Santa pointed at her and shouted back, “And thanks for being good girl this year!”
  • Snow on Main Street USA.
  • Holiday Wishes is always a treat!

We also managed to get a nice handful of attractions in as well because it was my niece’s first trip to Disney World in general, though I think in the future we’ll try to stick to the party-specific activities to maximize our return. Still, it was a whole lot of fun and the adorable pictures proved that nicely.

More tomorrow!

Dream Journal : Thwarting the Invasion

Two worlds exist – the human world that we know, and one nearby filled with robots who serve to protect the humans whenever they can.

The worlds are traversed by a single elevator that runs between both in a nondescript, Manhattan hotel.

For the longest time, humans weren’t allowed in the robot world, but after more and more started discovering the secret elevator, they began to be welcomed as guests and allowed to co-mingle with the robots in their natural home. Unfortunately, however, this also attracted a third race that saw fit to cause chaos for the both of them…

I had a bad feeling about the latest batch of human visitors to come through the elevator – something just didn’t seem right about them and the looks in their eyes hinted that they had their own agenda when they spoke of a grand celebration between the humans and the robots. The celebration was to kick off with the creation of a giant, floating platform in the center of the square upon which robots and humans alike would stand together as it floated upward as a symbol of their progress together.

Visiting humans were enamored when gold and treats first rained down from the platform as it raised higher into the air, but a moment later, that’s when the invasion began.

For it was soon revealed that those suspicious humans weren’t actually humans at all, but shape changers that had entered the robot home world as aliens in disguise. Their attack was swift and fierce, but while my friends fought valiantly against the invading forces, I was one of the few instead who ran.

I was one of the few who survived.

Hiding in secret chambers within the robot HQ itself where the elevator was located, I watched from afar as the invaders switched between their disguises and their true alien forms to root out those who had managed to avoid their initial onslaught. I was a nobody, so they didn’t even know to look for me, but it would turn out as I learned their ultimate plan that I was both races’ last hope…

Nearby on the edge of the robot world stood a steep cliff that seemed to overlook into nothing, though in reality it was actually the bridge between the robot and human worlds. The robots had banned anyone from going there and so the patch of land remained void and empty, however the invaders had long since realized that it was the perfect staging area for the final step in their plan, for if they were to set off their detonation in the gap between both worlds, the blast would devastate both worlds equally.

I had to show myself to learn of their plan by carefully fighting back as I made my way through the HQ. The alien forces had taken over it almost completely, however they continued to roam the building disguised as humans despite how awkward they really were in the skin. I fought several in an elevator, then more in the hallway, leaving only one alive to go tell its superiors of my intent.

I then made my way into no man’s land towards the edge of the cliff, and as I looked down to see the enemy ships slowly rising into view – the same destroyers that history had shown marking the end to other civilizations in the past, I knew that it was now or never if I was going to save the world.

2014 Holiday Advent Blog – Day 14 – The Holidays are Swell!

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I guess you can say that I’m turning into an old man because in our recent couple of trips to Disney World, out of all the possible souvenirs that I could set my little sights on, this holiday serving set is the one that I just had to have!

For what it’s worth, I just really like the old school artwork on them and thought they’d make a fun addition to our ever-growing array of holiday housewares. Not to mention, once you start you can’t not collect the whole set, of course. 😉

I guess this means I’m going to have to acquire some sort of cheese log to serve on these babies before the year is through…

…and no, I don’t want to talk about how much they actually costed… 😯