Getting My Feathers In A Bunch.....plus The Best pt 3.

I went into Walmart on Monday, Halloween, to pick up some emergency candy. To my utter amazement and chagrin they were taking down the Halloween posters that hang from the ceiling and were putting up Christmas posters. Christmas posters. I know the merchandise for Christmas came out in September, but this was actually decorating the store itself for Christmas.

I love Christmas, I really do, but it seems to me that they skipped a holiday....Thanksgiving... anyone, anyone??? Thanksgiving is turning into the forgotten holiday. I always felt bad for it that it only has 3 weeks of pre-celebration time anyways, but now they are just completely skipping it and moving on to the real money maker.

In the spirit of non-violent and non-critical rebellion that has gripped me lately I have decided to make the most of my 3 weeks leading up to Thanksgiving by posting every day (hopefully) about the people and things I am thankful for. Take that American consumerism!

To start out with I am going to write a little about my fabulous spouse, without whom I would be that crazy teacher that has 14 cats, wears a size 26 and socializes solely online through World of Warcraft.

Eric is not only hard working, long suffering and the most amazing dad to our kids, he is a wonderful husband who tries hard to help me have a happy life. He doesn't complain when I impulse buy. He listens to me rant about the latest slight I feel I have been dealt by the pizza guy. He nods encouragingly as I lash out at neighbor/news paper publisher who writes editorials about people being responsible neighbors and not leaving junk cars to rot on streets, while simultaneously leaving a junker right in front of OUR house! (not that this has been a recent and big thorn in my side or anything).

Eric was willing to suck it up and finish law school even though he hated it and wanted to quit after the first year. He worked so hard and did so well he was even able to graduate a semester early. He is great at being self motivated and is always on top of his responsibilities.

I love Eric and am so thankful he saved me from my cat lady existence, but that he loves that same slightly odd girl. All without ever making me feel badly about the fact that I am way nerdier than him, and he even smiles and nods as I tell him all about the fantasy books I am reading and their different mythologies.

Thank you Eric, you rock.

On to The Best Family Vacation Ever part 3:
Magic Kingdom
Eric with his beloved Belle, his favorite princess (yes, he has a favorite. You have to pick one when you have a daughter like Ella who really cares about things like this).

The Magic Kingdom is very much like our own beloved Disneyland in California, but with enough differences it is fun to compare them as you enjoy the park. Mainstreet is similar, but different. It is Cinderella's castle instead of Sleeping Beauty's. Oh, but the line for Dumbo is still amazingly long!
One thing we did do that was all new, and all amazing was have lunch at Cinderella's castle. You have to get reservations ahead of time, but it was soooooooooo worth it. You get to meet Cinderella and we even had enough time to talk with her a bit. Did you know Cinderella doesn't like crowns? They always fall off so she asked her fairy godmother to make her headbands to match all her outfits. Hmmm, I didn't even think about that till we talked with her!

During lunch the princess come around to each table. You get to talk to them, take pictures, and just enjoy the really good food and atmosphere. The girls were so excited.

Ethan...well he did like the cupcake he got to decorate for dessert.

(Another tidbit: Belle doesn't wear her ball gown around most of the time, it is too hard to move around in as it is so wide. Never really thought about it before, but now we know because we asked. And knowing is half the battle).

Ella, especially, was on cloud nine. We got to meet each of the princess, except Aurora went on break right before she got to her table and hadn't come back yet. One of the photographers had struck up a conversation with us because he noticed Eric's Husker shirt, and he too was from Nebraska. We asked our new friend what we should do about not meeting Aurora (Ella would have been devastated) so he promptly found her handler and had Aurora over to our table in no time. Aurora asked Ella if they should play a trick on Prince Phillip since "he wouldn't be able to tell them apart." They pick the best people to be the princesses!

All I can say is if I could design Heaven it would be a lot like the Magic Kingdom....but free...and less people with weird tattoos.