A Disney Christmas by Syndi Powell

A DISNEY CHRISTMAS

BY SYNDI POWELL

I just returned from spending a week at Disney World where every resort hotel and theme park are decorated for the holidays. Christmas trees, garland and wreaths are found everywhere along with Christmas carols playing on speakers. Epcot is filled with storytellers and performers who share the different traditions of that country during December. Special treats are sold at the vendors (of which I sampled quite a few). It's the most wonderful time of year at the most magical place on Earth.

I started talking about wanting to visit Disney World over two years ago. I was tired and discouraged by the way things were going with my cancer treatment, so I figured it was time to start planning for the time I was finished with it all. I've always wanted to see Disney at Christmas, so this seemed to be the perfect solution. I mentioned to my mom and sister that this is what I wanted to do, and they wholeheartedly said they'd go with me.

Two years of talking and dreaming and planning for the trip made our anticipation grow. We had lists of things we wanted to do and see, food we wanted to eat, and rides that we had to go on. We made reservations for dinners and events. We each had calendars that counted down the days until we would leave and often texted each other as certain milestones passed. "Only 2 more months!" "30 more days!" And then we got to the single digits and daily texts with questions about things we might have forgotten to buy for the trip.

I'm glad we did all the planning because it made our time there so much easier. We didn’t have to worry about what we were going to do each day since we had built a plan to follow. We could just sit back and enjoy our time.

Actually, we didn't sit. We walked. A lot. It wasn't uncommon to check our step trackers at the end of the day to see that we had walked 7-10 miles. The walking made us tired, but we fell into bed each night with smiles on our faces and wondering what the next day would hold.

It really was the trip of a lifetime. We made special memories that will never be taken from us.

PS - I wish I could upload some of the pictures I took while I was there, but for some reason it won't let me. Maybe next time.