It is Beginning to Look and Feel Like Christmas!!

Bryan and I had a good time together. We definitely had some adventures on this trip! This could be a long post with pictures. In summary, the 3 1/2 day weekend was way too short and went by way to fast!!

Bryan and I waiting for the Glenn Beck Christmas Sweater to start in Tulsa!!

We tried taking this picture twice because Bryan's eyes were closed the first time. I love the ladies expression in the background. I think she got a kick out of us! I wish she would have volunteered to take the picture for us!! :)

We left Tulsa around 10:45 pm and we finally made it to our condo at:2:15 AM !!!!!!

Of course we slept in as much as we could, got up, grab some quick lunch at Steak n Shake and headed to Silver Dollar City. The park directed us to park about 1 mile away and they bused us in. It was crowded. But it made for another memory for Bryan and I. We had not been on a school bus since high school! So of course, another picture!! Don't you just love his expression!!

Right inside the park they have this huge tree set up with tons and tons of lights and big ornaments. It was so pretty and really set the atmosphere for the rest of the day.


Here is a picture of the tree lit up at night. After the official lighting, the lights blink to music. It was so fun to watch. I'm sure I looked like an 7 year old throughout the whole day!!

Nearly every building in the park is covered in lights:

Rudolph's nose would light up and blink on and off!

They were just really creative on the holiday decorations! I kind of want to make a snowman for our front yard next year.

Silver Dollar City did a great job displaying the true meaning of Christmas. I loved this nativity scene and then this narrative:
For funnies, Bryan and I visited the children's section where they have this huge gym/climbing/play thing where you can climb up into it and run around. It's like a fort type thing (can you tell I don't have children by my description). Bryan told me how he and his best friend would play up in it when they were boys. There wasn't a height or weight limit so we went through it, plus we saw other adults up in it as well. I even went down a slide!!!

It was hilarious. As I was getting in the slide (Bryan was down at the end to take my picture) a little girl was behind me and she said "You know, you can get down another way!" It was just hysterical. I nearly got stuck because my bottom just would not slide!!! Why I took my purse with me on the slide, I have no idea! Maybe that was what was weighing me down! Doubt it!!!

There was a presentation of Frosty the Snowman and I sat and watched some of it while Bryan walked around. Again, I felt like a little child but I loved it. We kept wishing we had little children to enjoy this with. Kept thinking of our friends and family and how we should have borrowed their kidos!! I highly recommend Silver Dollar City around Christmas time, especially if you have small ones. It is spectacular. They even have a parade they run throughout the night as well. I kept oooing and awing and yelling at Santa and Frosty as they walked the parade! Loved it!!

Bryan and I took some time out to watch A Christmas Carol. It was a wonderful drama presentation by those at Silver Dollar City. We were impressed with the acting, the set, and the the costumes. If the park didn't put you in the Christmas spirit, the drama did! While we were in the auditorium, we had our phones on silent and at one point we noticed Bryan had 2 missed calls from his mom and I had one from her. We got a little concerned thinking something had happened to his MeMaw but we weren't at a place where we could easily get out. When the play was over and Bryan checked his message, Donna was calling to tell us Sam Bradford had won the Heisman!I threatened to yell Boomer! Sooner! but Bryan would have no part of it!!

I have no idea who these children are but I just had to take a picture of the Santa.Bryan and I thought he was the best looking santa we had seen. His beard was real!

We really enjoyed our day and night at Silver Dollar City! We were there 8-9 hours!! We had to call it quits at some point.

We slept in and then went shopping Sunday afternoon at Tanger Outlet mall. Bryan needed some new dress clothes for work and we found him some good prices and knocked out a Christmas present or two. While we were there, we saw 2 families we go to church with! They were up in the Branson area for a cheer leading competition! Who would have thought we would be all the way up in Branson and see people from our church!!

My boss and his wife joined us on Sunday night. We had tons of fun eating with them and they taught me how to play spades. We stayed up until 11:30 Sunday night playing cards. It was fun. They are so kind and generous to Bryan and I.

Bryan and I left on Monday to come back to Oklahoma. During the night, ice/snow/wintry mix had hit NE OK and the Springfield/Branson area. We ate breakfast at a Shoney's. We ate there for old time sake. Bryan and I had not ate at Shoney's since high school. We pigged out on the breakfast buffet. Bryan was hilarious! He had 4 different types of meat. He came back with another plate and said he needed his fruit!!! If you look closely, although there is pineapple on his plate, he has a cake covered in strawberry sauce and cool whip!!!!I was really anxious to get home but Bryan really wanted to stop at Bass Pro in Springfield. He called me little Ed (after his dad) because he said his dad always had to be persuaded to stop there when they would come up to Branson when Bryan was a child. Bryan trying to be cute and persuade me to stop:

And of course, guess who got their way:

Bryan was like a child just enthralled by all the mounts:

It was so cold coming home. Parts of the turnpike on the OK side were only one lane each way due to ice.

To get home, it took us 8 hours to make a 5 hour trip !!

This was the parking lot at the McDonalds we stopped at.

I'm not a big coffee drinker but I do drink it occasionally when it is bitter cold outside. I don't know what happened to me but I had 2 cups at breakfast, took one to go for the road and then we stopped again once we crossed over into OK and I got another cup!!!! I drank more coffee coming home than I probably have in 8 months!! I think I'm turning into my grandparents because they drank a ton of coffee! Bryan was excited I was drinking coffee because he likes it in the mornings and usually has to make his own. I think he is hoping I will begin making it for him!!

If you got to this point, thank you for putting up with such a long post! I didn't post during the trip because we didn't stop long enough!!

I hope you had a great weekend!!