Our trip to Christmas Town

"O Tannenbaum"

Yesterday, we went to Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg to visit Christmas Town and see all the decorations and lights. It was well worth seeing and we all three had a great day. We were there from about 3pm to 10pm, getting there just before sunset as the lights were becoming the focal point for a very festive night. The sky was turning purple as the sun went down on a very brisk evening. We were all bundled up in our warmest winter clothes and we walked from "England" to "Ireland", "Scotland", "France" and "Germany." Each area had a distinctive style and decor with music and lights unique to that part of the park.

At first, we weren't sure that Molly was going to have much fun. She seemed grumpy and looked at us like: "You've got to be kidding...it's so cold out here and I don't like wearing hats and gloves!" She also hates being covered by blankets, so this may have presented a problem until she resigned herself to her fate and just stared bleakly from her stroller, so bundled she could hardly move anyway.


"This isn't fun for me."


"I'm being shy for some reason."

Little did she know who she would be seeing that night...none other than the guy in red himself! Yeah, Elmo!!! He is by far her most favorite, beloved and recognized character on Sesame Street. She has two dolls, slippers, books upon books and he is even on her diapers. She sees him everyday on Sesame Street at 10:30 on the dot.


"Hey, who is this?"


She actually leaned in to Elmo and gave him a hug. Keep in mind, she wouldn't hug her own daddy while he had on his winter hat...yet she had NO problem hugging this gigantic red fur covered muppet creature with the big bug-eyes and a nose bigger than her head. Hmmmm....weird.

We were able to catch the Sesame Street Christmas Show at the Globe Theater ...sitting in the front row for the best view possible. The theater was filled with other Elmo crazy kids like Molly and parents who were happy to be able to share in the fun. For me, it was almost more fun to watch Molly and the other kids than the show.


Just before the show started, after our photo with Elmo, I happened to notice that Molly only had on one shoe. I was horrified that we may never find her sweet little shoe that I loved so much. Without hesitating, I took off on the back-tracking hunt for the shoe. I ran back to the shop where we just bought our gloves, searching the ground the whole way. I got to the cashier and said "Please tell me you found a little child's shoe in here pleeeeeeeeze!" She said "Why yes, here it is....we looked for you and hoped you'd come back for it." I gratefully grabbed it and ran back to Molly and Dan just before the show started. You have no idea how important a shoe can be to a mommy who keeps everything most important in her baby's first couple of years. These are her first real street worthy shoes and I love them.





The show was fun, upbeat and had a nice message for kids. She sat transfixed most of the time and seemed to enjoy it.

Afterward, we went to "Germany" and had a prime rib dinner at Das Festhaus. There was a live musical show going on called "Deck the Halls" which was quite the production. A round hydraulic stage housing the band and a big Christmas tree raised and lowered as singers in turn of the century attire sang a medley of carols. It was very entertaining for us all as we ate at the long community dining tables.


We later strolled through the park just to enjoy the lights, music and shops. Also in "Germany" was an amazing "Santa's Workshop" and Santa and his elves were there too. We were able to peek in through the window and it was glorious, so....we put the plan into action. The plan: Get Molly into her pretty red velvet dress as fast as possible, cover her to keep her warm, brush her hair in line, stick the white ribbon in her hair at the last minute so she wouldn't pull it off. Then we needed to get her to Santa before she had a chance to really freak out and cry.









She did reasonably well, meaning...I don't think the people in Ireland heard her crying. I kept wondering if the people peeking in the window at us were thinking we were being cruel scaring our child like this. Then I guessed they'd be doing the same thing in five minutes anyway. Santa said to me: "I don't want her to be afraid of me." He sweetly talked to her a little bit as we snapped photos.

We then raced back to change her into her warm footie-pajamas, gloves, hat and all for the rest of the night. It was getting late and we needed her to be ready to plop into her crib after the ride home.

After spending forever in the France parking lot only to realize we parked in the England parking lot....we finally found our car and got in and cranked up the heat.




All in all it was a great day and we had fun.