Papa and Nana's Pre-Christmas Extravaganza, Pt. I

Dad and Cindy were once again staying at the Sheraton Vistana.

Hi America.

As the Holiday season rumbles forward, the Houghs decided to mix it up this year.  Dad and Cindy - who, as you may recall, visited us back in October - flew into town last night to celebrate an early Christmas with us. . . something they've never done before.  Actually, no one has.  In the eight years we've been down here in America's Junk, we usually import grandparents in October, February and May (Dad and Cindy), June/July, February and November (Mom and John), and June and March (Marcy, Kris' Mom.)  Usually the Holiday season is too chaotic for grandparents to visit, so we've always slugged it out solo.

So this was a welcome change.

She learns this from her mother.

Dad and Cindy flew into town Thursday evening, so we ended up meeting up with them this afternoon.  We hung around the house for a couple hours before heading out to the Grand Floridian Resort of Walt Disney to check out their infamous Gingerbread House.

The Houghs have spent their time in many different hotels over the years, and we're no stranger to fancy ones, either.  But the  over-the-top ritzy Grand Floridian gives off an air that had all of us self-conscious - it was like the staff (and patrons) could smell 'poor people' on us, as we weren't staying there and only crashing the joint in order to check out their Christmas crap.

The humble Christmas Tree of the Grand Floridian.

(Slightly bigger than ours.)

Alayna takes a moment to refocus her Chi and catch some Zen.  Or however the hell that works.

The Houghs girls

. . . and now featuring parents.

This is what all the hubub is about - a giant Gingerbread house (and of course, ours kids were cooperative for a picture in front of it.)

Everything you see here (with the exception of the glass) is edible. . . though I wouldn't touch it after being out in the open air around people as it has been.  It's probably full of germs (though they're rich people germs, so I guess that counts for something.) 

There was a line around the side of the house, and being typical American Sheep-le, we hopped in.  No idea why, really - we just saw people standing in line, so we did what any person in today's society would do.  Makes sense, right?

We had to keep a close eye on these two while waiting in line.  If you've been following this blog over the years, you know perfectly well why.

After fifteen minutes, thereabouts, we reached the window. . . turns out it was a store selling Gingerbread delectables and goods.  You can imagine, I'm sure, how over-priced these goods were they were hawking.  You can tell they're targeting the resort's upper-class demographic (ex. the lady in front of us, who seemed middle class enough, walked away with over $500 worth of Gingerbread goods.)

Dad and Cindy bought a bag of gingerbread cookies - which were AWESOME - as well as a couple Christmas ornaments (here's ours they gave us for our tree.)

As we worked our way through the bag of gingerbread and headed up to the second level to check out some more of the Grand Floridian. . .

These were popular chairs. . .

. . . but not nearly popular as the elevator (ours kids love elevators.)

This dude could play a grand - the kids were mesmerized.

I want chairs like this for my Study.

After snooping around the interior, we decided to take things outside and check out more of the resort.

Kris and Cindy watch seagulls attack children. 

You know it's cold when the lifeguards are wearing winter coats. . . and no one's in the pool (also, check out the monorail zooming by in the background.)

Unleashing hell. 

The Grand Floridian's wedding chapel.

Sisterly hug or head lock. . . they're basically the same thing.

After snooping around Richville for awhile, we decided to call it a day and head back to the car.

 

Another monorail - oddly enough those things are pretty quiet.

Back in Papa and Nana's hotel suite (which was much bigger this time around, due to a timeshare offer they took advantage of), we threw in one of the greatest holiday movies of all time (and one of my personal favorites) and started winding down the girls for the night, as they were once again staying the night with my folks.

Coloring, analog style

. . . and coloring digitally.

Asian Minnie Mouse. . .?

The end of Part I - stay tuned for more, America.

- Brian