The Christmas with No Disney . . . sort of.

Christmas break went by so quickly, it's hard to believe the whole break is already over. I did have a good Christmas - we spent time with my family and with Caradorn's as well. I also got to catch up with a couple of very good old friends, which was really nice.

The one thing that was missing was a trip to Orlando. We've gone there for either my birthday or Christmas every year recently, until this year. I was sorry in a way that we didn't manage to go this year, especially since Black Ship Sky had a concert that I would like to have gone to. I'm still pretty unhappy with Disney, though, so I wasn't quite ready to go back there yet. We will be going back later this spring for The Kidd's band trip. I am looking forward to going back to the parks but I still intend to boycott Downtown Disney. There's nothing there that I care about anymore, and they won't see another dime from me unless they bring back the Adventurers Club.

I didn't even watch the Disney Christmas Parade this year, and I don't think I've ever missed that unless I was actually at Disney World. I still remember the year we went to the taping of the parade and it actually snowed. And I really mean snow, not the "snow" that falls during the Christmas Party. It wasn't much snow, and it wasn't great huge fluffy snowflakes, but it was definitely frozen precipitation. I don't think it did it during the parade, but it snowed the day before or after. And I remember that we swam anyway, in the pool at Caribbean Beach that had a slide we loved. Somehow we managed not to catch pneumonia.

There was one other small change this year - we hardly gave any gifts that were from Disney World, and usually everyone gets something from there. I did give Becky and Frank a couple of Disney pins, but I couldn't help that. I am completely addicted to the silly things and I always try to get other people hooked on them, too. Other than that, though, we didn't buy any gifts at Disney World this year and that will probably be the norm from now on. I don't feel the same loyalty to the brand that I used to, for some reason.

I did get a few Disney gifts, though. Becky and Frank spent Christmas at Disneyland, and they brought us some pins. They also found me the neatest things . . . some of my favorite Disney pins (other than my "Kungaloosh" one, which is by far my favorite!) are the "Vinylmation" ones. They came in a box so you couldn't tell which ones you were getting, which automatically made me want them - I love grab bags! They were Mickey shaped pins with funny designs on them - like the Yeti, Figment, Kermit, or the Monorail (or several others). At Disneyland, they now have little Mickey shaped vinyl figures in the same patterns as the pins. They brought me a couple of those and I love them. In a way, I am hoping they won't carry them at Disney World. I already know I will break down and buy some pins when we go this Spring, and if they have those figures I'll have to buy those too.

(A note about the Disney pins - I am not one of those crazy pin traders who spends thousands of dollars and drags around a suitcase full of pins to trade! I buy the ones I really like and keep them or give them as gifts. I love the level of detail on all the pins . . .they make perfect souvenirs.)

And I guess I am indirectly supporting Disney with one of my birthday presents, too. I had to wait until after Christmas to get him, but I might be ordering him later today. I am so excited about him - he's something I've always wanted but didn't think I could get. I couldn't get him before Christmas because part of what I wanted was out of stock, but now that it's back in stock I'm going to hurry and get him. He's a Muppet! I've always wanted my very own Muppet and now FAO Schwarz has a Muppet Whatnot Workshop where you can design your own Muppet. I know exactly what mine will look like. His name is (or will be, once they build him) Myron. He just looks like a Myron. (No, I don't know any Myrons. I don't know if I've actually ever seen a Myron. But I know what one would look like, and my Muppet looks just like that.) I'll post pictures when he gets here.

We were so busy enjoying ourselves over Christmas that we didn't keep up with everything we needed to do, so I have quite a bit I need to be doing right now. First thing, I suppose I ought to take down the Christmas tree. It's sort of a shame we didn't stick to just using our Charley Brown tree, because it is much easier to take down and pack away. Instead I have to wrangle a tree that's larger than I am and deal with way too many ornaments . . . most of which have something to do with Disney. Maybe our Christmas wasn't quite as Disney-free as I thought it would be!