My Christmas traditions have been the same for 21 years. A big all day Christmas party with family and friends on Christmas Eve, church at midnight, early morning travel on Christmas Day to my family in NY, watching the Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade with my cousins, and a huge family feast with cookies for breakfast the next day. It’s a routine I could do in my sleep. This year was not so routine. I worked with the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella during the day on Christmas Eve, then met up with my four closest friends here to exchange presents and feast at the classiest restaurant…Denny’s (yes, that is sarcasm but it was delicious), watched the parade on Christmas morning and knew many people in it, and then went to work with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy in Epcot that evening.
Even though I didn’t get to celebrate my traditions, I was able to help so many families celebrate their own holiday traditions. Mickey and friends have the tradition of course of welcoming everyone to the parks with the Christmas Day parade. They all get dressed up in their best holiday apparel and saunter down Main Street USA giving out happy holiday greetings. Even Santa came around for the big day! It was truly magical. Everyone working was in high spirits too because even though we couldn’t be with our families on the holiday, we were with our Disney family. Even some of the other College Program participants in my apartment complex were able to keep their spirits high by caroling throughout the complex. But they were not singing traditional holiday tunes, but rather in true Disney fashion, they were singing verses from one of the new songs from Frozen “Do You Wanna Build A Snowman”. It was absolutely adorable and appreciated by all.
I was told by all my friends and family back home that it snowed for the holidays. Well it snowed here too! During Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party Main Street USA was filled with big snowflakes that looked perfect for everyone’s holiday Christmas card pictures and every night in Hollywood Studios during the Spectacle of Dancing Lights snow would descend from the tops of the buildings as Christmas lights danced to the classic holiday tunes. I was lucky enough to work during one of the evenings. Goofy, dressed up as Santa would turn on the lights each night and meet and greet with guests during the evening. And one of the funniest things I have ever seen is Goofy dancing to songs from the Nutcracker while dressed as Santa. If you hang around long enough you never know what you’ll find in Walt Disney World!
Even though I’ve been enjoying the warm, eighty degree weather I will be happy to return to school and see the Hill with snow on it. Winter is one of my favorite seasons at school just because the campus looks so pretty after a snowstorm. Being there over Jan Term will be nice and hopefully somewhat relaxing. I am also very excited to be able to see all my friends and family I left in Maryland. The countdown has begun and I’m only days away from being back in what really feels like winter and away from the magic that is created every day in Florida. It’s both sad and happy at the same time.
Have a great holiday season everyone!
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