Webster Words: Dec. '23- Week 4, Part 1: Mantua Christmas Adam, Family Christmas Eve traditions, Our Christmas Day Sunday, Driving to CA!, DISNEYLAND!

22nd- Friday: I heard kids up at 7:30, but I got back to sleep and didn’t wake up till 9:30. We ate and chilled and played with baby Sophie. I showered and the Winegars got here. We had lunch and the kids ran around. We played Skull King and Dan, Grandma, and Grandpa took the teens to the Brigham City Temple to do baptisms. We prepped for dinner. Everyone else finally arrived. We ate around 6. We had the talent show and played the game with prizes on strings. We all got matching PJs that said "I'm the Favorite." We sang songs around the piano. We got the three girls to bed at 10:30. The bigger cousins played around a little more and made a pyramid.

23rd- Saturday: We had a lovely breakfast. We opened presents and then hung out and played games and played with Grandma's tone bells too. We cleaned up and left around 3. Once we got home, we did laundry and cleaned and unpacked and organized as best we could. We helped all the girls pack for California. We had pizza for dinner. We opened our Disney sweatshirts (instead of PJs). We acted out the Nativity and set out Santa treats. Everyone got ready for bed and then we watched the “Christ Child.” They all slept in the theater room. Dan and I finished final Christmas preparations.

24th- Sunday: This was our Christmas Day since the next day we'd be leaving for California. We showered before getting the kids up at 8:15. We opened stockings and presents! We had our German pancakes for breakfast and folded laundry. We finished getting ready for church. McKenna and I sang O Come, O Come, Emmanuel in Sacrament meeting. The 6th ward went way over their time so we were late to practice beforehand. It was a lovely meeting though. The primary kids sang too. My parents and Jonathan came. They came to our house after church and we hung out. The kids showed them their new things. We watched the new Grinch and some of us napped. We delivered our final 12th day of Christmas to the States. They had no idea it was us! We set up luminaries at the Jarvis’s since Jeff's health was still declining. We prepped Christmas dinner and ate around 6pm. We took a drive to see Christmas lights around the Temple. The kids played some piano pieces for my family. They left and Dan and I did some final trip preparations. Merry Christmas!

25th- Monday- We managed to get on the road by 7:55am, 5 minutes earlier than we planned! That's a first! Our first stop was in Cedar City. We ate food that we packed. We held up a "Merry Christmas" sign in our car window and occasionally waved and honked at people to spread a little Christmas joy! We got to our hotel by 7pm, which was great time! We heated up dinner and ate and watched a little Wizard of Oz on the TV. We got the kids to bed and we quickly followed! I’m so thankful it was a safe drive and I'm thankful for Dan driving the whole day!

26th- Tuesday: We left our hotel by 7am! We made it in the park by 7:45 and waited for “rope drop” at 8am. Rise of the Resistance was closed at first, so we started with Pirates for our first ride, and the kids loved it! We rode Rise of the Resistance next and it was a total hit!! Alice looked a little scared as the cast members were playing their stern roles, so a lady pulled her aside and told her she was really nice and it was going to be ok. It was funny! We had a late breakfast in Star Wars Land and got the blue and green milks as well. So Yummy! Other rides before lunch were Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones (Alice played in the Tree House), and the Jungle Cruise. We watched the parade as best we could from the fourth row back and holding up the little ones. We ate a later lunch. After that, we tried to do some rides in Fantasy Land, but it was WAY crowded. We only did Peter Pan and then tried Snow White, but the ride broke down. We ate a delicious soft gingerbread cookie though! We went to do Smuggler’s Run, but it also shut down. We rode the Pooh ride, then Buzz, and Space Mountian (my favorite!), then waited to see the Princesses at the Royal Hall. We did more rides in Fantasy Land including the Carousel, Storybook Canal, and Alice in Wonderland. We had pizza for dinner at Pizza Planet. Everyone did Smuggler’s except me, then we rode the Haunted Mansion. We ended the night with fireworks, the Matterhorn (Alice did not like that one!) It's a Small World, and Wild Toad’s Adventure. We left the park at 11:30 and the walk back to the hotel felt like torture after walking and standing for about 16 hours and 10+miles! Alice even looked like she was sleep walking on the way home. What a DAY!! The weather was perfect! The Christmas decorations were amazing! The food was delicious! Genie+ pass was a must in order to ride what we wanted. We did not repeat any rides and we didn't even set foot in ToonTown. We even got to see Mickey and Minnie on our way out of the park!