Duloc Manor and the Holiday House Tour

Click here for a pictorial tour of Duloc Manor decked out for the Holiday House Tour.

Let me preface this blog entry by saying that I love the holiays. Not just Halloween and Christmas (my two favorites), but all of the holidays throughout the year. Life is too short not to seize every chance that you can to celebrate. That's probably why I ended up in a town called Celebration.

At our condo in Chicago, I was known as the Holiday Balcony Lady because I decorated my balcony at every opportunity. In January, I had strings of New Years lights that gave way to a giant light-up heart and strings of red heart lights for Valentines Day. Next up were shimmering shamrocks and green light strings in honor of St. Patrick, and then those gave way to the Easter Bunny and his entourage. In June and July, my giant flag made of lights and red-white-and-blue strings of light-up stars led me up to a two-month dry spell. I put out plenty of flowers in August and September, but I could barely wait for October so Halloween ghosts and pumpkins could haunt my balcony. They were replaced with light-up turkeys and pilgrims, and the finally the grand finale of the year: Christmas!

In December, I literally jammed every inch of my limited space with plastic snowmen and Santas, spiral trees, and a full light-up nativity, complete with holy family, wise men, animals, and a giant star blazing overhead. Our condo was on the third floor, and our unit had two stories, so my husband braved a neck-breaking fall to mount that star at the peak of our vaulted roof every year.

My husband and I had a yearly debate over whether to keep Baby Jesus inside until December 25th, since that was His official birthday, or whether to leave Him outside to brave the bitter Chicago cold from Thanksgiving on through Twelfth Night. Each year I won the battle, and poor little Baby Jesus had to shiver in His manager for the whole drawn-out holiday season.

Still, the blaze of countless light bulbs probably kept Him warm. With all my light-up figures and strings of lights festooning the railings, you could spot the glow from our balcony two streets over. The array of extension cords and plug adapters was like the scene in "A Christmas Story" when the dad plugs in the tree and is sprayed with a shower of sparks. But somehow we managed to avoid getting electrocuted or burning down the house, and my display blazed brightly until January, when I started the whole cycle over again.

Our purchase of Duloc Manor threw a crimp into my holiday madness. It was hard to spend time on decorations when we were busy commuting back and forth to Florida, so my balcony remained dark and bleak. All of our original neighbors in Illinois had moved away over the years, so none of the newcomers to our condo building had any idea that I had once decorated with such vigor and devotion.

Long ago, I swore that I would always have a Christmas tree, no matter where I was. In that first hectic year, our Celebration tree was a tiny tabletop model that came complete with decorations. We had closed on the house only three months earlier, so things were too hectic for a proper holiday display. But the second year, I was determined to have a suitably tacky tree, even if there was nothing else. We brought our silver aluminum tree to Florida, complete with its three groovy color wheels. I felt much more at home with its gaudy branches shimmering in 1960s glory in the front room.

Even though our own decorations were sparse, we made it a point to do plenty of holiday activities to keep us in the spirit of the season. One of our favorites was the Holiday House Tour, a yearly event in Celebration sponored by the Womens Club. It's a charity fundraiser in which 10 or so homeowners volunteer to open up their houses for the weekend. People can purchase tickets and tour the participating homes.

For two years, we've gotten a kick out of going on the tour. The participating homes can be anything from cozy little bungalows to massive mansions scattered throughout town, from North Village all the way back to Artisan Park. We love seeing the decorations, and being able to check out the inside of various styles of Celebration homes is a bonus. I'll admit it...I'm insatiably curious about house interiors, and a lot of people have the same vice. The tour is a great chance to satisfy your curiosity.

Last year, at the time of the tour, I was counting down the days until we would be permanent residents of Celebration. I was also stressing out about the logistics of moving a husband, three cats, two fish, and a bird 1200 miles in Cayonero's close confines. At that time, I decided that in 2005 I'd like to particpate from the other side. It felt good to look beyond the immediate chaos and imagine our next Christmas, when we'd be comfortably settled in and be able to play host to others.

After our years as looky-loos, I thought it would be fun to open up Duloc Manor and let the masses check out the inside of a triplex. Sure, it's not big and fancy, but I planned to come up with a theme for every room to capture the tour-goers' interest. I love tacky decor, so this would be my chance to share my "unique" taste with others and perhaps give them a chuckle or two.

Now, it's a year later, and we are indeed settled in. The stress of the 2004 holiday season, and driving to Celebration in the infamous Atlanta ice storm, is but a vague memory that has taken on the status of a family legend. And we did indeed participate in the Holiday Home Tour, an experience that will no doubt become a family legend, too.

Actually, our preparation for the tour began last spring, when I began scouring the internet for Christmas items to add to my collection. I already had a number of Rankin-Bass figures, a genuine "Christmas Story" leg lamp, and of course my silver tree. But I knew that I needed to flesh out my collection in order to dud up Duloc Manor in proper tacky 1960s holiday style.

I told my husband that I didn't want any Christmas presents in 2005; instead, I would choose my own presents early: items for my Holiday Home Tour display. I found more Rankin-Bass goodies, from Heat Miser and Snow Miser bobbleheads to a singing Rudolph and Santa. I decided that they would go in the family room, while the front room would become a tribute to "A Christmas Story." I located figures and bobbleheads from the movie (my favorite was poor Flick with his tongue stuck to the lamp post). I also found a set of "Charlie Brown Christmas" figures, so I decided that Charlie, Snoopy, and the gang could take over my Disney Cruise Line-themed bedroom. I also had vague plans for a Chrismahanukwanzakah room, but I wasn't sure where to put it. I was leaning towards the upstairs foyer, but that seemed a little precarious. I still needed a theme for the powder room, too, but I had faith that it would all come together as the Christmas season approached.

Before I knew it, Halloween was looming...then Thanksgiving...then Christmas! The tour was scheduled for the weekend of December 10 and 11. The pressure was on; it was time to finalize my plans, purchase the last few items, and get Duloc Manor ready with a tacky display that was sure to shock and awe the poor, unsuspecting tour participants. Target had some Rudolph paraphernalia, so I rounded out my Rankin-Bass collection. My husband and I made a late night trip to load up on garland and ornaments and other essentials (I wouldn't shop during primetime because I hate shopping in holiday crowds). I decided on a South Park/Mr. Hanky theme for the powder room based on two points: 1) I already had a collection of "South Park" dolls; and 2) What could be more appropriate for a bathroom display than Christmas Poo?

For the Rankin-Bass room, I of course used my silver tree. For the front room, nothing less than a real tree would do, decked out with big, old-fashioned fire-hazard lightbulbs and festooned liberally with silver tinsel, just like in the "Christmas Story" movie. My husband made me swear to water it faithfully, as visions of a dried-out tree torch like the one in "Christmas Vacation" danced through his head.

In addition to the themed decorations in each room, I planned to have an appropriate video playing on a television or portable DVD player for each display. Visitors to my home would see the leg lamp in person as they watched Dad dig it out of its carton on the small screen. They would see a Mr. Hanky doll perched on the toilet while he danced and sang "Howdy Ho!" through the magic of digital video on the sink.

I decided to put Chrismahanukwanzakah in the laundry nook; I could place a menorah on the washer and a nativity on the dryer, with my laptop on the shelf above, looping the Virgin Moble commercial to indoctrinate the uninitiated into "an all-inclusive celebration, no contractual obligation."

There were only two final details troubling me. I had enough themed items for each room and all of the appropriate movies and cartoons, but I still coveted two special props. How could my "Christmas Story" room be authentic without a genuine Red Ryder BB gun? And how could Charlie Brown fit properly in my bedroom without a sad little tree, complete with a hunched-over posture, shedding needles, with a single dangling red ball?

Fortunately, in Celebration friends and neighbors can be counted on to come to the rescue. My next-door neighbors produced a perfect Red Ryder rifle. They also loaned me an adorable "kitchen tree" decorated with implements like rolling pins and whisks that would be perfect as a countertop display. A friend created the quintessential Charlie Brown tree, complete with crossed-wood stand and sad little tufts of drooping needles. We added a big, red ornament, and it looked like it had been plucked right from the frames of the cartoon. His wife even provided a little blue blanket to wrap around the base. They added a pair of shattered glasses to set by the Red Ryder rifle for that extra little authentic detail.

Better yet, on the Friday before the home tour, when I had to pick my husband up from the airport, they descended on Duloc Manor with boxes of ornaments, garland, Santa figures, and other decorations. I gave them carte blanche to do a holiday makeover, and by the time I returned with hubby in tow, our home had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland. They had artfully draped decorations from the railings, television, and even the kitchen light fixture. Cute little Santa figures and ornament displays filled out shelves and furniture tops. My giant Figment and Stitch in the foyer were now sporting Santa hats. They even loaned me a Rudolph train that I set up in the family room, with Bumble topping a tree in the middle. Unfortunately, the cats thought that the tracks were an official feline play area, so I had to keep shooing them out.

Another friend had given me a stuffed Disney Cruise Line ship and Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy figures. We rigged up two floating platforms, intending to launch them in the hot tub on Saturday afternoon along with a light-up cloth Christmas tree hat (remember, I said I wanted my decor to be tacky).

Someone else had donated four bags of monorail "ear" hats like the one my husband wears to Bunny Brigade outings. Picture a Steve Martin arrow hat, but with monorail cars running through your head. I decided to hold a contest, with the hats as the prize. We have a sign above our front door that says "Duloc Manor," and the word "Duloc" also appears inside the house. Anyone who was able to find it won their very own monorail headgear.

Since I spent most of my time by the front door, where we have an enormous framed monorail poster, I donned one of the hats to go along with the theme. By Sunday night, I'd given away all but one of the hats. Of course, we'd been a bit liberal...we weren't adverse to giving hints to the people who really, really wanted one.

There are typically hundreds of people who take the Holiday House Tour. Thus, I had to be prepared for a mass of humanity trekking through Duloc Manor. We roped off the main displays with gold garland so people could get close but would be dissuaded from touching anything. We would keep the spare bedroom closed, since it functions as my husband's office and isn't set up for people to easily maneuver through. We also planned to close off the master bathroom and closet, where the cats and bird could be sequestered in safety. The crowds would have sent Tooncinator and Farquaad over the edge...Stitch would have loved it, but it would have been impossible to keep him in the house. I didn't want him lost outside among the crowds and traffic.
Our last little detail was to don appropriate t-shirts coordinated with our respective areas. I wore a "Christmas Story" shirt emblazoned with a picture of Ralphie and the tagline "You'll shoot your eye out!" My friend, who manned the kitchen and family room, sported Hermey the Elf with the legend "I Want To Be A Dentist!" Upstairs, Charlie Brown and the gang partied on my husband's chest. Our relief volunteer, who worked the Saturday night shift, donned a custom Chrismahanukwanzakah shirt.

I was hoping that Duloc Manor would be viewed as quite a spectacle. Each home on the tour is staffed with volunteers to keep things under control. A lot of homeowners opt to avoid the mayhem and make themselves scarce, but my husband and I both volunteered to stay. We wanted to be in the thick of things and to see the reactions to our Christmas extravaganza firsthand. I was looking forward to seeing jaws drop as people entered the splendid tackiness of 1960s Christmas specials (not to mention the modern-day tackiness of Mr. Hankey).

Believe it or not...people liked it! Most of them weren't horrified...they were delighted!

Sure, there were a few looky-loos who gaped in confusion and left shaking their heads. But the overwhelming majority left with big smiles on their faces. I spent most of my time greeting the arrivals at the front door, and I could instantly spot my fellow "Christmas Story" fans. They homed right in on the leg lamp and chuckled about the pair of broken glasses perched on the rifle butt. Most people liked the Rankin-Bass room, but there were some who loved it. You could spot them instantly...their eyes would light up the moment they spotted the singing characters lined up on the kitchen table or caught sight of Snow Miser dancing with his entourage of mini-mes on the big screen TV. I imagine that they were reliving childhood memories of gathering around the Radiation King color TV for the yearly treat of watching Rudolph, Bumble and friends.

Actually, some of the Rankin-Bass fans were a good decade younger than me, and most of the kids on the tour squealed with delight when they reached the family room. They were instantly able to identify the DVD as "The Year Without a Santa Claus." It was gratifying to see that the appeal of classic stop-motion animation has spread across multiple generations.

I had several people ask where I'd gotten my silver Christmas tree and color wheels. I explained that it had been a floor model at a holiday outlet in Chicago. It was the very last one, so I pretty much refused to leave the store until they sold it to me. They dragged out a spare box and dismantled it right there on the showroom floor. It still had a few shreds of fake, cottony snow clinging to the branches...a leftover from the display that it once proudly capped.

I had been a bit worried about Mr. Hankey, especially since the DVD prominently features the classic song "Kyle's Mom is a Bitch," but I needn't have troubled my mind. As visitors peeked in the powder room, I heard the delighted cries of, "Oh, look! South Park! And there's Mr. Hankey on the toilet!" There was one innocent soul who thought they were the Rugrats, and I thought it was best not to correct her.

They also saw the humor in my hot tub display (especially when they realized that we are Disney Cruise Line fanatics), and my husband, who manned the upstairs, reported that they loved the Charlie Brown tree. He did have to point it out many visitors who were so dazzled by our cruising momentos that they totally missed the scraggly little pine with the Charlie Brown characters spread out around it on the floor.

Not everyone knew Chrismahanukwanzakah (Virgin Mobile isn't showing the original commercial this year; their campaign is centered around the 1-888-ELF-POOP gift giving hotline), but those who did appreciated the humor. Even some who didn't still liked the idea, and most of the visitors thought it was way cool that I'd transformed a washer and dryer into a multi-faith display. I had been worried about the propriety of displaying a Hanukkah symbol next to a nativity, but we had some Jewish visitors who told my husband they enjoyed seeing the menorah.

Almost everyone left with a smile, and some of them (the ones with the same sense of humor as me) were laughing out loud, agreeing that I had earned the title of Tackiest House on the Tour. I also received many compliments on the level of detail worked into each themed room. I couldn't take all of the credit for that; my friends who helped us decorate added many of the finishing touches. It was neat to see the "Aha!" expression spread across a visitor's face as they blurted, "Oh, look at your shirt! It's Ralphie!" or "Cool! The glasses by the Red Ryder gun are broken!" or "Wow! There's even pine needles scattered around the Charlie Brown tree!"

People were also impressed that we'd managed to place a TV or portable DVD player in each of the rooms with an appropriate audiovisual accompaniment. It was a pain to scurry from room to room, restarting the movies and cartoons when they reached the end, but the positive reactions made the work worthwhile.

I also received many compliments on something I had added as an afterthought. When I was shopping at Joanne Fabrics for their 50 percent off Christmas sale, I noticed a rack of candles on my way out. They weren't as heavily discounted as the holiay merchandise, but one of them caught my fancy. It had triple layers scented with Cookie, Marshmallow, and Hot Chocolate. Mmmmmm! Should I burn it or eat it? On impulse, I bought it; I didn't think the scents would be as spectacular as they sounded, but it would add a nice candlelit ambiance to the kitchen during the tour.

Amazingly, the candle scented the whole first floor with a delicious cinammon essence. I lost count of the people who asked, "What's that wonderful smell?" I quickly became immune to it, but visitors noticed it immediately when they walked in.

If it made them hungry, I was prepared with a plate of cookies, and my friend had brought lollipops for the kids. In previous years, I'd noticed that some of the homes handed out candy canes, cookies, or other goodies, which I thought was a nice touch, so I wanted to do that, too. It was fascinating watching the various reactions to the cookie plate, which was set out on the counter near a Christmas cookie cookbook and a holiday cookie jar. Some apparently thought they were part of the display and avoided them. Some instantly realized that they were meant to be eaten and dove right in without hesitation. Some hesitantly asked, "Is it okay to take a cookie?" and their query was rewarded with a treat.

On both Saturday and Sunday, the crowd flow started slowly, then swelled into a steady stream. On Saturday, many of the people waited until nightfall so they could see the decorations in the dark. I do have to admit that my hot tub display was much cooler after dark, with the red-green disco lights imparting a glow to the steamy water where Mickey, his friends, and the cruise ship bobbed along on their foamboard "islands." I hadn't done much decorating out front, since I'd directed most of my efforts to Duloc Manor's interior, but I did have a light-up Rudolph and the Misfit Toys propped up on the front lawn.

Sunday was particularly busy, since it was the last day. There was a rainstorm during the first hour, so that kept people away. But as soon as the skies had cleared, the mass of humanity descended. Once it started, the crowd never subsided until 5 p.m., when the tour officially ended.

Every now and then, we would have a mega-crowd when the Celebration Trolley pulled up and disgorged a full load of tour-goers. They would file inside in a conga line and hustle to check out all the rooms before the trolley bell summoned them back. Twice, I had to shout up the staircase for a few stragglers who were engrossed in chatting with my husband that time had slipped away from them.

I was amazed at the number of people who headed upstairs and disappeared for a long time. Sometimes other members of their party would have to go up and drag them away. I never realized that my husband was capable of making such fascinating conversation! Actually, he said that when people went into the master bedroom and saw the photos on the dresser, they realized that he wasn't just a volunteer...he was the actual homeowner. That was the catalyst for a flurry of questions. Sometimes they asked about Disney Cruise Line, but often they were full of questions about our house. How many bedrooms and bathrooms did it have? What was the total square footage? (Although officially dubbed the "Holiday Home Tour," many people take it primarily to see the inside of the various Celebration home styles).

Those who realized that I was also an owner peppered me with questions, too. Many had never been all the way back to Roseville Corner and East Village, so they didn't even know that there were duplexes and triplexes in Celebration. They wanted to know how many units were in our building, whether the soundproofing was good, and all sorts of other logistical questions. I was more than happy to answer; since I've done the tour twice as a looky-loo, I understand their curiosity. I always liked the houses where the homeowners were on hand, as I got a kick out chatting with them. Now I was on the other side, so I could repay those previous years.

It was an exhausting weekend, but so much fun! My only regret was that I never managed to slip away to see the other houses. I was having such a blast greeting people at Duloc Manor that the day was over before I even realized it. Both Saturday and Sunday whizzed by at lightning speed.

My favorite compliment came from one visitor who said, "We toured all of the huge mansions, but your house is my favorite. The mansions were nice, but most of the decorations were cold. I love the personal touches here. This is the kind of place that a person can live in."

Yes, Duloc Manor is a lived-in and much-loved little home. I'm glad that the tour-goers picked up on that warmth and that we were able to share our love of the holiday season with a few hundred people this year.

If you haven't already, click here for a pictorial tour of Duloc Manor decked out for the Holiday House Tour.

Click here for my Life Coaching website.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Home for the Holidays

This is my first holiday season living full time in Florida. After being born in the Windy City and living there all four decades of my life, I wondered if I would be lonely for my hometown. We're returning in January to see our family and friends, but my worries were piqued by Christmas song propaganda: "I'll Be Home For Christmas," "There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays," and other such cheery tunes. No matter how much I love Florida, I wondered...would the holiday season bring a sense of melancholy? I remember the (brief) sense of sadness when we loaded the pets into Canyonero last January and set off on our 1200 mile trek to Celebration. Would it possibly resuface in stereotypical holiday style?

Amazingly, I don't feel one whit of homesickness! I love Christmas in Florida, with festive activities around every corner. The Osborne lights at Disney World, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, the nightly soap-snow downtown, the Christmas show at Dixie Stamplede, the Ice display at the Gaylord Palms...those are just a few small examples of holiday activities in the Celebration area. How can I feel homesick when there is so much to do?

If I do feel a nagging bit of longing for my northern roots, it can easily be salved through the power of the internet. For example, one of my yearly Chicago traditions was listening to radio stattion WLIT, which plays 24 hours of Christmas music non-stop throughout the holiday season.

I don't know if there is an equivalent station in Orlando, but my husband pointed out that I don't need to find one. I can stream WLIT on my laptop, and not only am I serenaded by Christmas carols, but I can also revel in "local" commercials and news items about Mayor Daley's power struggles and multi-car pileups on the Dan Ryan to help me feel at home.

The shivery weather forecasts remind me of just how lucky I am. I was a bit miffed this morning to wake up to gray, rainy skies and a temperature of 70. In Chicago, it's 18 arctic degrees, and it will drop into the single digits overnight before rising to a blazing heat wave of 22 by the weekend. Better yet, tomorrow they're expecting an inch of snow. Ugh! I'll take 70 degrees any day, even if it's damp and murky.

So far, I've enjoyed the music selection today, although Shakin' Stevens and Elton John have been conspicuously absent from the mix. They haven't played "Mary's Boy Child" either...I know that the Little River Band version is obscure, but Harry Belafonte is a classic. Oh well, at least they tossed in "Do They Know It's Christmas," and they're played John Lennon's "Happy Christmas (War is Over)" three times already.

One thing I've never understood is why WLIT plays "My Favorite Things" from "The Sound of Music" as a Christmas song. Huh?! Sure, it has a few references to things like silver-white winters, sleigh rides, warm woolen mittens, and brown paper packages tied up with string, but that's really a stretch. Raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, and bright copper kettles just don't put me in a holiday mood. Worse yet, the dog bites and bee stings are downright depressing.

Today, I discovered another bit of Chicago nostalgia online that not only transports me geographically but also sends me on a journey back in time. Windy City Baby Boomers grew up with Frasier Thomas and Garfield Goose on WGN-Channel 9 and spent their noontime watching Bozo the Clown. At Christmas, their eyes were glued to the screen as some old friends returned to town: Suzy Snowflake and a trio of elves named Hardrock, Coco, and Joe. If you're not from Chicago, this probably means nothing to you. If you are, I'm willing to bet that strains of "Ole olady olday i oh" are dancing through your brain.

Suzy and the elves star in two scratchy black-and-white shorts. Their primative stop-motion animation makes Rudolph look like Pixar by comparison. Worse yet, the slanty-eye Santa with his tongue sticking out is the stuff of nightmares! But when you're a starry-eyed tot, caught up in the magic of the Christmas season, these cute little dittys becomes a beloved part of your holiday. Like clockwork, you can count on them to return year after year.

I think that Hardrock, Coco, Joe, and Suzy might have taken a hiatus during my teenage years and on into my twenties. Fraiser and Garfield had left the air, but I heard that the Christmas shorts were occasionally resurrected on the Bozo show. I was too busy getting on with life to spare much attention to old childhood "friends."

Now, through the magic of the internet, I can immerse myself back in nostalgic memories. If you're a fellow Chicagoan who would like to see those Christmas clips again, click here view them on WGN's website. You'll have to sit through a commercial first, but don't worry...you'll get to see the whole song.

There's an irony in watching Suzy Snowflake dance across a white powdered landscape while palm trees sway outside my window. As a kid and young adult, shivering my way through frigid Chicago winters, I never imagined that someday I'd be basking in balmy December sunshine next door to Mickey Mouse. I spent many pre-Christmas weeks at Disney World, and it always broke my heart to head back to the wintery north. How I wished I could stay forever!

It's no wonder that I don't feel homesick...here in Celebration, I am home.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

The Teeming Holiday Masses

The teeming holiday masses have arrived!

They're a little early this year, although I suspect that the crowd might thin out next week. Maybe there are still some leftovers from Thanksgiving who rolled the long holiday weekend into an extended vacation. Usually the first two weeks of December are relatively slow at Disney, but last night the Magic Kingdom was packed wall-to-wall with revelers.

We've been to Disney-MGM to see the Osborne lights already, but hubby was itching to visit Mickey on his home turf: the venerable Magic Kingdom. His Christmas is never complete without seeing the decorations on Main Street and oogling at the giant tree. We decided to go on Saturday, since the park was open till 11 p.m. (during this season, it often closes early to make way for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, a separate, ticketed event).

Hubby was hoping for a ride or two; at the very least, he figured we could grab a Fast Pass and walk around until the appointed time. He wanted to ride one of the roller coasters; my preference was Space Mountain, as I like rocketing around in the darkness. But I wasn't very hopeful, as I suspected that the crowd density was going to be much higher than he thought.

With Annual Passes in hand, we headed down World Drive towards the toll gate. Once you turn off Celebration Blvd., it's a straight shot to Mickey Land...only eight miles from our front door. I love driving under the ornate red- and purple-lit archway that announces my arrival at Disney World. As I head towards the toll gate, I always notice the Epcot monorail track that parallels my journey. Often, a sleek monorail train will whoosh by overhead. It's an ambiance that I'll never get tired of.

It was after 7 p.m., so I was surprised by the number of cars ahead of us at the toll plaza, and the parking lot was still jam-packed with cars. That didn't bode well for the crowd density.

Once you have parked, you can get to the Magic Kingdom by boat or monorail. We opted for "Disney's highway in the sky," which turned out to be a time-consuming prospect. For some reason, the train before the one we boarded sat in the station for an interminable amount of time. In my mind, I could hear "Jeopardy" music as I waited for the darned thing to go on its way. Finally it left, and another train glided up a few minutes later. We packed in like Japanese subway riders and pulled out of the station...only to come to a stop. Sigh! Another wait.

I knew we'd reach our destination eventually, but between my sweatshirt and the mass of bodies, I was ready to die of heat prostration. Finally we resumed our journey and pulled into the Magic Kingdom station.

I've always loved the monorails. On my old computer, the shut-down sound was "Please stand clear of the doors. Por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas." If you don't know that that is, you've never spent any time on the Disney transit system. After a week's vacation zipping around on the monorail trains, you'll be hearing that phrase in your sleep.

We joined the cattle herd tromping towards the park, and I (a master of stating the obvious) said, "Hmmmm, I don't think we're going to be riding Space Mountain." I'm also a master of understatement; a more accurate observation would have been, "I don't think we're going to be doing much of anything." With such a mass of humanity, even moving a few feet without being bowled over by a stroller piloted by a vacation-stormtrooper parent was questionable.

As we maneuvered down Main Street, we noticed people staking out parade spots. Hubby consulted his time guide and discovered that the parade didn't start until 9 p.m. It was only 7:30! I'm sorry, but no parade is worth killing an hour and a half risking hemorrhoids sitting on the cold cement and warding off potential spot-stealers with the zeal of a rabid pit bull.

We were quite disappointed to see that the Christmas tree had been moved. Overall, the park decorations were much more sparse than in years past. I guess we should have been prepared, since we'd already discovered the absence of the train at Disney-MGM, but the Magic Kingdom is the Crown Jewel Park. Even if there are cutbacks elsewhere, we had hoped that at least one park would still be decorated to the standard of years past.

My husband said he just wanted to make a round of the park. I'm always game for people-watching, so I agreed. We headed for Tomorrowland, where the Fast Passes were all gone and the wait for Space Mountain was nearly an hour. We did manage to sneak in a ride on the Wedway People Mover (it has some other god-awful name now, but it will always be Wedway to me).

The PeopleMover rarely has a line because it's a slow-moving, scenic attraction that doesn't appeal to the ADHD Instant Gratification Adrenaline Junkie culture. It takes you on an overhead tour of Tomorrowland, with suitably corny narration along the way. Its tame appearance belies its true viciousness...between Disneyland and Disney World, multiple people have met their gory end on Wedway. Of course, they were jumping out of the moving cars at the time, so it's hard to muster much sympathy.

My favorite part of the ride is the journey through Space Mountain. You can see the roller coaster cars maneuvering around the track in the darkness. When you're on them, it feels like you're moving fast, but watching them reveals that it's really a low-speed ride (28 m.p.h., just three miles faster than Celebration's speed limit).

The PeopleMover also takes you past a lighted model of Walt Disney's vision of the perfect community of the future. No, it doesn't look anything like Celebration; I often wonder just what old Uncle Walt would think of our New Urbanism-turned-Old-Suburban town.

I surpressed my urge to jump from car to car in mid-ride, and we managed to survive the Death Ride intact. We headed off towards Fantasyland, pausing along the way to buy necklaces with multi-colored flashing lights. They are very bright and have a replaceable battery, so they'll be perfect for night biking. Better yet, they were only $5 each. That's a real bargain for a Disney World souvenir.

We were hoping to hop onto Small World, but no such luck. Due to its obnoxious, brain-melting song, it often has no line. Unfortunately, the queue line was jam-packed with holiday park-goers. We passed it by, knowing that after Christmas it would be back to its normal walk-on status.

We headed into Frontierland and circled into Adventureland, which took us back to Main Street. Sadly, the Christmas decorations were few and far between. We always used to visit Disney World for the holidays, and the twinkling lights and wreaths and garland that thickly covered the parks always put me into a festive mood. Now, once we got past Main Street, I had to strain to see the sparse decorations. Celebration's Market Street is decidely more festive than the Mouse House.

Another thing I miss is the red and green lights at the Contemporary. All of the balconies have white lights, and at Christmas time, they used to be changed to red and green. Now, the white bulbs remain, and another special "Disney touch" is lost to the ages.

By this time, we had worked up a healthy appetite, but the sit-down restaurants in the park were fully reserved and not taking walk-ups. We popped in to Guest Services to see if we could eat at one of the Magic Kingdom area hotels.

Our first choice was Ohana, and the Guest Services agent couldn't help but snicker at our wide-eyed optimism. Sure, Ohana might have an opening...and I might find a lump of gold in the cats' litterbox too. Both restaurants at the Poly were fully booked, but we managed to snag an opening at Artists Point in the Wilderness Lodge.

We decided to take a boat to the hotel. After our meal, we could sail back across the lake to the Magic Kingdom and then hop a monorail to the car. It was a beautiful night, with just the mildest hint of a chill...perfect for boating on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon. In the darkness, our strobing necklaces had turned into epilepsy-inducing annoyances, so we turned them off before they triggered a group seizure in the tight quarters of the nautical conveyance.

The Wilderness Lodge is one of my favorite Disney resorts. It was the first one that hubby and I stayed at together, many years ago. I originally wanted to book the Contemporary, but it was full. The Lodge had just opened, and the cast member at CRO sang its praises in glowing terms. He said he had stayed there during a cast preview, and he described the rustic hewn logs, the enormous fireplace, and the shooting geyser. I acquiesced to his suggestion, and boy was I glad that I did! When my husband and I arrived, our jaws dropped as we stood in the lobby and gaped at the beauty of the National Park lodge replica. It was exquisite! We stayed there many more times, and now that we live in Celebration, we return frequently to partake of the godly mushroom soup at Artists Point. I never get enough, since they unfortunately don't sell it by the vat.

The restaurant was sparsely populated...a welcome relief from the sea of humanity that we'd left back at the Magic Kingdom. We indulged in mushroom soup, along with buffalo steak (hubby) and pan-seared scallops (me), with seasonal sorbet for dessert. We hiked back to the boat dock, moving slowly in deference to our full tummies, which were trying to redirect the bloodflow from our legs and brains.

It was past park closing time, so the crowd had slimmed down considerably. We trooped up the monorail ramp, where we only had to wait for a couple of trains to pass before we reached the front of the line. Unfortunately, we were stuck behind a blockage of strollers whose pilots gaped in mute awe, apparently unable to comprehend the simple task of either a) boarding; or b) getting the ^!%@# out of the way to let others do so. We couldn't get past them to enter the boarding chutes.

Finally, we managed to pass the gapers, but the chute gates were starting to swing closed. Being from Chicago, I pulled a Rachel Barton (for those unfamiliar with the Windy City's famous lawsuit, Rachel was a concert violinst who was boarding a commuter train as the door was closing. It closed with her on the outside and her violin inside. Rather than simply let go, she clung doggedly to the expensive instrument and lost a limb...but she did win the What's Personal Responsibility? Lottery, receiving a mega-million-dollar settlement for her lack of common sense). Both hubby and I slipped through the closing gates without losing any important appendages, and soon we were on our way to the parking lot.

The ride home was more exciting than a roller coaster. At park closing time, World Drive resembles the world's largest open-air bumper car course, with vehicles whipping wildly across the lanes or braking abruptly for no apparent reason other than to cause a crash. The excitement dimishes proportionally as you pass I-4 and get closer to Celebration, but it doesn't disappear. There are always one or two lost souls who make it all the way to Celebration Boulevard. Sure enough, we had a pair in front of us that managed to reach Water Street before realizing their mistake and suddenly U-turning in the middle of the road.

Our park visit wasn't quite what we had planned, but it was still a fun evening. Next up is Epcot, where I hope that the decorations at World Showcase will be up to traditional Disney standards. If not, the special holiday Illuminations finale will be worth it. We saw it last year and gaped in awe as the sky lit up bright as daytime and the ground shook from the mass explosion of fireworks that rivaled the Big Bang. This year, we can hear it each night from our house, and the distant explosions assure me that it's going to be just as good this time around.

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Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

You Too Can Juggle...Really!

Although I am not a morning person, this Friday I made an exception to drag my carcass out of bed for the Celebration Rotary Club meeting. Normally, the local Rotary gathers at 7 a.m. every Friday at the Seasons Cafe in Celebration Health. Members enjoy a hot breakfast in tandem with the meeting.

For me, 7 a.m. is a vague, misty hour at which I might stir for a restroom visit or if one of the cats snuggled next to me is head-butting me for attention. But to actually drag my carcass out of bed and perform a task that requires consciousness is usually beyond my capabilities. Worse yet, being somewhere at 7 means actually getting up in the grey, other-worldly hour of 6. That is pure anathema for for an avowed night owl like myself.

But I'm interested in the Rotary, and I've already attended one meeting. They're an active community service organization that spearheads worthwhile projects like volunteering at Give Kids the World Village, raising funds for projects such as Give Kids Safe Shelter, and offering scholarships to high school students. You can learn more about them at http://www.celebrationrotary.com Besides, how can I resist a club that bills itself as the "Happiest Club on Earth?"

The meeting topic this week certainly lent itself to a happy club. The speaker, Dave Finnigan, was going to teach everyone to juggle! I was a bit skeptical, since coordination is not my strong point even at the best of times, and it's probably even more dimished at any hour before 9 a.m. But Dave, also known as "Professor Confidence," is a public speaker (and Celebration resident) who guarantees on his website that any adult can learn some basic skills. You can learn more about him at http://www.icanjuggle.com/davefinnigan/

I urged my husband to join me, but he stayed up late working and had a Friday morning meeting so I decided to go solo. I planned to get to bed at a reasonable hour, but due to a problem with one of my websites, I was online till the wee hours with a tech support person. Still, I hoped to be conscious enough to get dressed and pilot Canyonero to Celebration Health.

I have an unfailing internal alarm clock; no matter how sleepy I might be, I pop awake at the correct time. That doesn't necessarily mean that I stay awake, but at least I stir long enough to look at the clock and confirm the time. My internal system has only failed me once. It was like one of those nightmares where you oversleep and miss an important appointment. Unfortunately, this time the nightmare was real, and I missed the first half of a horse show in which I was scheduled to compete. I'm not sure what happened, other than the fact that I was up until an ungodly hour playing video games. That was back in the Dark Ages, when Coleco-Vision was state of the art. All I had at home was an Atari 2600, and I was spending the night with a friend who owned the Coleco system. We played until we were bleary-eyed, long past midnight, and the games' mind-numbing effect evidently didn't wear off until 10 a.m. the next morning.

Fortunately, this morning the internal alarm was functioning flawlessly. I popped out of bed as the grey light of dawn peered weakly through the window. The cats were startled at my early morning activity. They gave me evil stares for daring to disturb their routine and then snuggled up with my hubby; any warm body will do for fickle felines.

I readied myself and climbed in Canyonero (my Aztek) for the short ride to Celebration Health. Unfortunately, when I go to the Seasons Cafe, I discovered that this week's meeting was actually at Stetson University. Oops! Fortunately, that's right downtown so I was able to make it in time without breaking any speeding laws.

The meeting was in an upstairs conference room. There was a nice continental spread of donuts and other baked goods, fresh fruit, water, juice, and coffee. I selected some pineapple, strawberries, and a tasty-looking glazed donut, which I figured would give me a good sugar rush to fuel the juggling. I chased it with a cup of coffee for that extra caffeine blast. I accidentally used a vanilla-flavored creamer; normally, I don't like anything sweet in my coffee, but it was actually pretty good.

After a demonstration on how to make up Rotary meetings online, we all trooped downstairs to some wide, open space so Dave could make us into jugglers. He demonstrated some basic moves with balls and then explained that we would be learning with scarves, since they move more slowly and are therefore easier for beginners to handle.

Everyone selected three colored scarves, and he walked us through the basic principles of juggling. Much to my amazement, I was able to follow along (albeit with plenty of scarf dropping). He taught us to handle two scarves and then to juggle three, both under- and over-handed.

As we worked our way up through the moves, he played appropriate motivational music and shouted encouragement to the mass of scarf-tossing bodies. I tried to watch the contortions of others, but I didn't have much concentration to spare as I strove to keep my own scarves airborn. Thank goodness they drift slowly; I couldn't even imagine trying to keep fast-moving spheres aloft. I've always enjoyed jugglers, but I learned a new appreciation of their skills.

It must have been quite an amusing sight to watch a roomful of people (both kids and adults) dance about madly as they juggled the colorful pieces of cloth. There were squeals of delight as they managed to them keep aloft and groans of disappointment when a scarf would manage to escape and reach the floor.

Since Dave built us up step by step, it wasn't nearly as complicated as I had feared. By the end, I suddenly clicked into the rhythm of the over-handed pattern. It was so cool! As I frantically tossed and caught my trio of flying scarves, I realized that Dave had fulfilled his promise: I was actually juggling!

The session was over all too soon (it usually lasts an hour, but we'd gone through an abbreviated 20-minute version). Reluctantly, I turned in my scarves and headed back home to East Village to begin my work day. As I maneuvered around the work truck blockade/obstacle course on East Lawn, I couldn't help but smile as I reflected on the morning. On a typical day, I would have just been stirring out of bed. But on this day I'd already made a major accomplishment...it wasn't even 9 a.m. yet, and already I had learned to juggle. What a cool way to kick off the day.

Click here for my Life Coaching website (check out the "Holiday Survival" and "Keeping New Years Resolutions" links.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Christmas Next Door to the House of Mouse

I alway enjoy Celebration's close proximity to Disney World, but it's especially enjoyable during the holiday season. Way back when we were vacationers, early December was one of our favorite seasons to visit the Mouse (the other was the lull right after Labor Day).

We typically visited Disney World in the first or second week of December. All of the Christmas decorations were up, but the crowd density was surprisingly manageable. The teaming masses descend on the Mouse House for Thanksgiving, but then the crowd steadily decreases for a brief time. After Turkey Day, I guess they're busy getting ready for the holidays at home. Then there is another boom that reaches critical mass in the week between Christmas and New Years. If you manage to visit in the valley between the two attendance peaks, you can spend some quality park time without unreasonable waits and enjoy the holiday decorations and activities.

Now that we live only eight miles from the front gates of the Magic Kingdom, we can take full advantage of the lull. Today, we decided to make our annual pilgrammage to Disney/MGM Studio for the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights. For ten years now, display has set the theme park ablaze with millions of multi-colored Christmas lights. It used to be set up on the "Residential Street" backlot, but that section as since been removed to make room for a new automotive stunt show. Now, the New York section is decked out in holiday finery, with soapy snowflakes drifting down on the oogling, gaping crowd.

Viewing the display has become a yearly tradition in our household. We've seen it for years, but my husband never gets tired of it. I have to confess that I enjoy it, too, as I've always had a fondness for tacky, overdone Christmas displays. Apparently the Osbornes horrified their neighbors with their over-the-top display in Arkansas. They supposedly even bought the houses on either side of their homestead in order to expand the extravaganza. Finally their neighbors sued, and the light show was shipped off to Disney World., where it has appeared for the last decade.

The display was slated to begin at 6 p.m., so we decided to have dinner at the Brown Derby, a restaurant in the theme park, and then go check out the lights. There is always a massive surge of people when the lights are first flicked on. We figured that we could enjoy a good meal and let the crowd thin out; then we could view the lights at our leisure, and maybe even sneak in a ride or two on Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster.

I have a AAA Diamond Parking pass, so we got a good spot just past the handicapped parking. I don't mind parking farther away, but I hate the vicious free-for-all of getting on a parking tram. I think most of those people would trample their own mothers in a bid to grab a tram seat. Since Disney Security would probably frown on my carrying a cattle prod, I stick to the AAA parking spots; they're usually within reasonable walking distance.

After our bags were checked, we joined a line to enter the park. Even though it was late, hoardes of people were heading in from other parks to see the Osborne Spectacular. We got in the one line that appeared to be moving, but of course the moment we entered it, the people in front of us froze like a statue. I never figured out the hold-up, but thankfully we eventually made it in before the park closed.

We debated getting a Fast Pass for the tower or the roller coaster, but according to the information board, there was no wait for either. It was a chilly evening, at least by Florida standards, so it appeared that most of the crowd had bailed and those who had left were all heading over to the light show or Fantasmic. Fine with us...we decided to have dinner, see the lights, and then ride Tower of Terror and Rockin' Rollercoaster at our leisure.

Technically, our reservations for Brown Derby were still an hour away; that's all I could get when I called ahead. But we figured that there was a good chance of getting in early since the crowd was so light. Sure enough, they were able to seat us with only a brief wait.

I love the cobb salads at the Brown Derby, but for me it's always a melancholy place to visit during the holiday season. Once upon a time, it was our tradition to have dinner there while enjoying the live piano music. The pianist played a wide variety of holiday tunes, but he always slipped in the Snow Miser theme. It just wasn't Christmas at Disney without a trip to the Derby and a Snow Miser serenade.

Then, a few years back, they got rid of the piano. I imagine it was a cost-cutting measure, but it really destroyed the ambiance for me. I still enjoy the food and the Christmas decorations, but it's not as special without the live music.

We had already premeditated splitting a cobb salad, but we decided to split a couple of appetizers, too. We settled on crab cakes and portabello mushroom/goat cheese tortellini. We were planning to be teetotalers, but the waitress tempted us into splitting a drink by describing the mouthwatering holiday specials. We chose a delicious minty creation that involved ice cream and peppermint schnapps. Not only was it tasty, but it was also lovely eye candy (at least until we dove into it). The beverage was pink and white, topped with green and white whipped cream infused with mint flavoring. It was so attractive that a fellow diner passing our table did an abrupt about-face and exclaimed, "Mmmmmm! What is that?!"

We enjoyed both of the appetizers, and the cobb salad was as wonderful as always. A lot of restaurants offer a cobb, but I've never found an authentic version like the Brown Derby's. It contains the usual items, such as lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, bleu cheese, eggs, turkey, and bacon. All of the ingredients are finely (and I do mean finely) chopped, and the server tosses it right at your table. The portion is large enough for two people to share or for one person to have as a hearty meal.

Even though we knew that our calorie-laden tummies didn't need any more food, we couldn't help ordering the dessert special out of curiosity. It was a chocolate and orange concoction created in honor of the new stunt show. The plate was artfully decorated with a castle and tire tracks stenciled in chocolate, and the dessert itself was apparently meant to resemble a wheel, complete with white-chocolate "flame." It was very rich and very tasty.

As we dined, I observed the people around us. I don't think there were many locals; we were surrounded by tourists flush with excitement, enjoying their holiday vacations. There were parties of every size, from couples to families with gaggles of children to three-generation tribes. I could feel their glee as I tried to visualize the scene through their eyes and recall my own excitement back when I was a tourist, too. The childlike wonder of people who see Disney World for the first time is a real delight.

I always wonder if living in Celebration and visiting Disney will ever become old hat for me. Thankfully, it looks like that time is still far away, if it ever even comes at all. I reveled in the happy atmosphere, and I smiled a secret smile, knowing that I never have to leave. No day counting, bag packing, and end-of-vacation malaise for me. I never have to go home from Disney World; I just have to go next door.

As we left the restaurant and headed to "New York," we marvelled at the absence of people. Most of Disney/MGM was deserted; apparently, there had been a mass exodus, and the only people left were either at the Osborne display or watching Fantasmic on the other side of the park.

The crowd density increased when we reached our destination. Even though I've seen the light show countless times, it still gives me goosebumps when I catch my first glimpse of the year. Imagine Clark's house in "Christmas Vacation" multipled by several hundred and you'll start to have a mental picture. Add animated figures and a giant spinning globe, plus soapy snowflakes dancing down from the sky, and you'll have a good visualization.

If you happen to visit the display, don't get so dazzled by the millions of colored lights that you miss the other little details. Look in the windows of the decorated houses, and search the tree lot for the Charlie Brown tree.

After we'd had our fill of Christmas finery, we headed off to drop in on the Tower of Terror. On our way, we noticed that the usual tree and train set were absent from the area in front of the giant sorcerer hat. It was a real disappointment; I don't know if they had been moved elsewhere in the park this year or if they've been eliminated altogether. I hope they haven't gone the way of the Brown Derby's piano.

Both the Tower of Terror and the Rockin' Rollercoaster were walk-on, so we chose the Tower first. There was only a handful of people in the pre-show room, and soon we were rushing through the "basement" to board the out-of-control elevator for a few cheap thrills. We were seated in the front row and sent off to the chute, where we were jostled up and down in the darkness. The highlight was when we reached the top and the doors burst open, revealing the Christmas lights glowing far below in a blazing palate of color.

Next, we headed to the rollercoaster, but unfortunately it had "temporarily ceased operation." Since we didn't know whether "temporary" meant a few minutes or the rest of the night, we decided to call it a day. Progress was slow, since we got caught in the post-Fantasmic herd, but we weren't in a hurry. It had been a nearly perfect evening...a good meal, a lovely holiday display, and a fun ride. The only slight damper was missing Rockin' Rollercoaster, but as hubby pointed out, we can always come back the next day.

Click here for my Holiday Survival Guide and a guide to Keeping New Years Resolutions on my business website.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Hectic Holidays

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the whirlwind holiday season has begun. Since Turkey Day has also ushered in the season of caloric holiday indulgence, I have scheduled bouts of daily physical activity to combat additional poundage. I'm an infomercial addict, so I ordered an Urban Rebounder (basically, an indoor mini-trampoline). I never believe the exaggerated claims, but I enjoy a wide variety of exercise so I have a smorgasboard of "As Seen On TV" equipment and DVDs. Now that the weather is so gorgeous, I've started walking semi-regularly again, too.

Saturday night was so pleasant that I decided to hike downtown to see the snowfall again. It was a perfect evening for being outdoors, and I was curious as to whether the crowd would be as large as it had been on Friday.

When I reached downtown Celebration, I still had a little time before the snowfall, so I stopped at Sherlock's for a cup of rose hip tea. Then I hiked down to Market Street, past the NEV train and horse carriages (both of which seemed to be doing a booming business). There was a good sized crowd that seemed to grow progressively larger as the clock approached 8 p.m.

As I waited below one of the light poles, in the midst of a steadily swelling mass of people, a little truck came down the street, refilling the snow-makers with a hose running from a tank of liquid. A little knot of kids was harrassing the drivers, asking them how snowflakes could be made from soap.

Suddenly the tinny speakers sprang to life, and the number of people on Market Street seemed to instantly triple. It was the same recording from last year, with the same corny intro: the kids of Celebration wishing for snow. And of course, the wish was granted as the blowers kicked into gear and the bubbly snowflakes rained down on the expectant crowd below. On Friday, I saw a lot of locals; Saturday appeared to be almost exclusively tourists. I found it rather humorous that in a few days, the vast majority of them would probably be returning to real snow...yet here they were, burning precious vacation time to see the fake version.

The kids danced around in the blizzard while proud parents and grandparents snapped photos or rolled their camcorders. I was standing right in the line of fire, but I quickly moved to avoid getting soap in my tea. Whatever type they are using this year has a stronger than usual scent that sent me into a coughing fit; the same thing had happened on Friday. But most of the people seemed to be immune to any adverse respiratory effects.

I stayed until the end of the snowfall to see what songs would be played. Unfortunately, none of them caught my fancy; it was the same old selections from last year. Oh well, now that I have my Shakin' Stevens CD with my favorite tune from the Celebration Company/Disney days, I don't miss the old days as much.

When the snowfall stopped, I headed towards Celebration Avenue for the hike back to Duloc Manor. It's longer than the back way, but it would take me through the residential areas. Since it was such a beautiful night, I decided to take the longest route, which would take me through South Village and Roseville Corner, instead of going directly into East Village.

The night was ablaze with Christmas lights, and there was still enough Chicagoan left in me to marvel at the fact that I walking around in shorts in November in 70-something degree weather. I know all the old cliches about dreaming of a white Christmas, but I'll choose a green Christmas anytime.

On Sunday afternoon, after church, we hiked over to the Farmers Market, which is doing a booming business at its new location on Market Street. Hubby wanted to pick up some produce, while I sought out the French pastry booth. Then, at the head of the street, we discovered Christmas trees for sale. It was a fundraiser to help pay for landscaping at the school, and the trees were very fresh, having just been cut in North Carolina a few days earlier. Free delivery was even included, and it was prompt. Our newly purchased tree was already waiting on our front porch by the time we got home.

On Sunday night, hubby and I decided to make a late night run to Target to buy some holiday decortations. We put the real tree in the front room, with a silver tree in the family room, so we needed to deck them both out. Normally, I would stick to one tree, but since we're on the holiday house tour, I need to be a bit more extravagant than usual. I hate shopping in crowds, so we figured that if we went out after 10 p.m., we'd avoid the worst of the holiday rush.

We got out a little later than planned, so we didn't reach the store until 10:40. As we pulled into the empty parking lot, I was afraid that Target was closed already. Thankfully, they were open until 11, giving us 20 precious minutes to snatch enough booty to deck out Duloc Manor. We grabbed a cart and rushed to the seasonal section, tossing garland, ornaments, tree skirts, and toppers into a precarious heap. We made it with five minutes to spare...whew!

We decorated the live tree when we got home, going with a loose "Christmas Story" theme. A friend gave me some old-fashioned big bulb Christmas lights, so my husband festooned them around the tree while I buried the branches in ornaments. It looks quite lovely when lit, but hubby is paranoid about the heat that the large light bulbs generate, so he won't let me leave them on when we're not in the room.

Next, I put up my beloved silver tree on Monday morning. I grew up in the tacky metal tree/color wheel 1960s, and I still have a soft spot in my heart for those shiny silver branches. Since the theme in my family room is Rankin/Bass, it fits in pefectly. There are two color wheels attached to the base and one balanced on a box to infuse the branches with a continuous cycle of blue, red, green, and orange. Technically, the tree is a new version that isn't made of metal, so I could safely use string lights. But I just can't do that...it wouldn't be properly authentic. However, in a nod to modern technology, I bought a small silver fiber optic tree for the foyer.

I added a few other holiday touches throughout the house, but by Monday night the house was still in chaos. Now it's Tuesday night, and I'm still surrounded by half-empty ornament boxes and random strings of garland; my decor is almost done, but not quite. I thought it would be done today, but then someone notified me that Christmas decorations were 60 percent off at Joanne Fabrics, so I stopped there this afternoon. Just what I needed...more holiday decor!

Hopefully Duloc Manor will be back to some semblence of normalcy by tomorrow...or at least as normal as possible in the hectic holiday season.

Click here for my Holiday Survival Guide and a guide to Keeping New Years Resolutions on my business website.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

The Celebration Snow Returns

Yesterday night the yearly snowfall returned to Celebration. Call me corny, but I love the blizzard of soapy snowflakes that descends hourly on Market Street between Black Friday and New Years Eve. We've been attending it since 2002, when we were in the process of purchasing our home.

For the first two years we attended, it was run by The Celebration Company (i.e. Disney). In 2004, it was taken over by Lexin, the company that purchased the downtown area. Fortunately, Lexin didn't change it too much, although I prefer Disney's taste in music. A loop of Christmas music plays on tinny speakers as the snowfall pours down at the top of each hour from 6 to 9 p.m. It only lasts a few minutes, but the kids get a real big kick out of it. For the "big kids" who have moved to Florida from the North, it provides a snow-fix without the unpleasant side effects, like shovels and frostbite.

Since yesterday was the first day of "Now Snowing Nightly" (the official moniker), it was kicked off with a big hoopla prior to the 6 p.m. snowfall. The 2005 community service award winners were going to light the laefront Christmas tree; since one of them is a friend of ours, we decided to get downtown early enough to see him.

Hubby and I figured that traffic might be fierce, so we walked from East Village to downtown. It only takes about 20 minutes if you take the boardwalk, and it's not much farther even if you hoof it on the streets. It was a pleasant night for walking, although I donned blue jeans in case the air turned chilly (for a Floridian, "cool" is anything below the low 70s).

Sure enough, when we got downtown, it was fast becoming a mob scene. There were cars and people everywhere, eager to kick off the holiday season with carolers, snow, and the arrival of Santa Claus. We managed to jockey into position near the tree, where we met some friends. We chatted for a while as singers carolled, and then I spotted our other friends waiting near the stage for the tree lighting cue. I slipped over to wait was the clock neared the appointed hour. After the tree lighting, Santa was scheduled to arrive in style in a horse-drawn carriage (the south is too hot for reindeer, as anyone who has ever watched "The Year Without A Santa Claus" knows...they must wear those personal cooling devices from "Sharper Image" when they visit on Christmas Eve).

The three award winners were clutching a giant plunger that would ostensibly light the tree. The singers finished early, so the master of ceremonies killed time until the precise moment. Then, he frantically started the countdown, and the crowd breathlessly shouted: "FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!" The plunger was depressed...and nothing. But not to worry...a moment or two later the tree lit up in a blaze of white lights (well, mostly...a couple of patches were noticeably dark, so some of the strings must have been out).

I'm guessing the plunger was a diversion, with the tree set to light up at the appointed time without any human intervention. But it looks a lot more cool to have a big prop, and the timing was pretty good...only a few seconds off.

In the aftermath, buried in the crowd, I missed Santa's arrival. The pre-recorded music had kicked in, and the snowmakers were pumping out soapy snowflakes full force. Celebration's other holiday standards (carriage rides and the NEV train) were on hand, and the crowd had swelled into a wall of people crowding the sidewalks of Market Street.

We decided to go out to dinner; since the restaurants downtown looked packed, we opted for Joe's Crab Shack at Water Tower Place. In theory, we have a card that entitles us to immediate seating. In practice, since we were with a group of people, bringing our party size to eight, we had to wait half an hour for one of the two big inside tables to open up (there is a large table outside, too, but the plethora of smokers in the outside dining area made it an unappealing option).

As we headed for our friends' van (since we had walked downtown, we were at their mercy for transportation to WTP), we paused at the end of Market Street to watch a group of children making snow angels in the soap suds. It was so neat to see the delight on their faces and hear their excited giggles. Forget the 5 a.m. sales and the mob scenes at the malls...it was in that moment, among the happy squeals of the wee ones, that I knew the holiday season had officially begun.

Click here for my Holiday Survival Guide and a guide to Keeping New Years Resolutions on my business website.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

A Thanksgiving Celebration

2005 was our first "official" Thanksgiving in Celebration. Even though we were commuting last year, we spent the holiday onboard the Disney Wonder, as we had done since 1999. The three-night cruise normally runs from Thursday to Sunday, which fit nicely into our work holidays. We committed to spending Christmas with family, but Turkey Day was always spent out on the deep, blue ocean, enjoying a dinner with all the trimmings but none of the work.

This year, Disney switched its schedule so crew members wouldn't have to work at Port Canaveral on Thanksgiving Day and guests wouldn't have to board on the holiday. Many people fly in the day of their cruise, which can be rather hectic. The old schedule required them to head out to the port, get settled in their staterooms, and attend the safety drill...quite a lot to pack into the day before you sit down to a holiday meal.

Instead, the three-day cruise was switched to Sunday, meaning it would end on Wednesday. The holiday cruisers would then sail for four days, from Wednesday to Sunday, when the ship would return to its normal schedule.

Back when we booked our cruise, we didn't know that we'd be living full-time in Celebration by the time our sail date rolled around. The four-day Thanksgiving cruise wouldn't fit into our schedule or budget, so we opted for the three-day sailing beforehand.

When we drove to Port Canaveral on Sunday, my brain kept insisting that it was a weekday. More than half of our 47 Disney cruises have been on the Wonder, and all of them (except for two four-day sailings) have left on a Thursday. My sense of timing was entirely thrown off, but soon it wouldn't matter because we'd be on vacation, with our cares and cautions thrown to the wind.

Since we would be back at Duloc Manor for Thanksgiving, last week it finally dawned on me that I should make some dinner plans. In Chicago, before we started spending Turkey Day at sea, my husband would either cook a ham feast or we'd head over to my brother's house. This year, he didn't feel like cooking, nor did we want to fly north into the bitter cold (it was 12 degrees in Chicago today, which is obnoxiously chilly for November). Instead, we decided to book a nice meal at a Disney World restaurant.

Since so many tourists visit for the holidays, most of the eateries at Disney offer a special Thanksgving menu. As I dialed 407-WDW-DINE, my husband snickered at my optimism. "Yeah, right, like there's going to be any room left anywhere," he said. "Aw, come on," I countered, "Thanksgiving is still a whole week away. Surely there's space somewhere, especially if we're flexible." He rolled his eyes and courteously refrained from reminding me that Fantasyland is eight miles away.

I was hoping to dine at either Jiko or Artists Point, two of our all-time favorite Disney eateries. I wasn't going to try for any of the restaurants in the theme parks because if the park itself reaches capacity before you get there, you're out of luck. Unfortunately, both of those restaurants were already fully booked...as was virtually every other restaurant on Disney World property.

Frantically, I combed my memory and worked my way through every restaurant I could think of: Boma, Ohana, Chef Mickey's, the Concourse Steakhouse, Beach Blanket Buffet, Yachtsman's Steakhouse, California Grill, Citrico's, Narcoosee's, Boatwright's, and even the Flying Fish (which was actually serving a delicious-sounding Thanksgiving special). Those are just a few of the options I worked my way through, and I even tried the Downtown Disney restaurants. The only possibility was Kona Cafe, at the Polynesian, and only if we were willing to eat very early.

Hubby didn't say a word, but I caught the "I told you so" gleam in his eyes. Plan B was to start calling the restaurants on 192, I-Drive, and Sandlake Road, since neither of us was too keen on cooking. Fortunately, I was saved from additional searching when friends in Celebration invited us over for Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, when we returned from the cruise, was mostly a lazy day. We had eaten like piglets onboard the Wonder, so we needed a day to recover before indulging in a hearty holiday meal. Thank goodness the Urban Rebounder exercise trampoline I ordered is supposed to arrive on Friday; it's been a much too indulgent month already, and Christmas is still 30 long days away.

On the way home from Port Canaveral, we stopped at Perkins to pick up a cookie and mini-muffin tray that we'd ordered to bring to dinner with us. I had convinced my husband to make his famous bean salad, but while we were eating breakfast at Perkins the day before the cruise, he noticed a tempting selection of baked goods spread out on a display table. Apparently they were taking holiday orders to be picked up on Wednesday or Thursday. You can never have too many sugary holiday treats, so we ordered one of the variety plates.

Wednesday night was chilly by Florida standards. We took a late night dip in the hot tub and watched the steam rising from the 99 degree water. The outside air was in the 40s; not pleasant when we were done and had to make a shivery dash to the house, but much better than Chicago's below-freezing temps. Thanksgiving Day dawned sunny and pleasant, and the mercury rose to a comfy, balmy level. We were supposed to have an early dinner, so I ate a light breakfast of oatmeal (assisted by Farquaad, who was glad to lap up the remnants, since I top it with milk).

Our friends called with a little delay, so to kill time, we climbed in the spa. It was much warmer than the previous night's sojurn, and as I luxurated in the lounge seat, staring at the blue sky and gently swaying palm trees in the nearby preserve area, I marveled at how wonderful it is to spend Thanksgiving in Florida. No barren trees powdered with snow...no wicked wind whipping through your coat...no frost to chip off the car windows. I'll take a lively, green state with temperatures in the 70s any day, especially since Chicago's wind chill is expected to hit zero tonight.

Soon it was time to grab the goodies and head out to dinner. Our friends had cooked up an impressive spread: turkey, gravy, cranberry sauce, corn, broccoli, green bean casserole (no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without it, and it must have crunchy onions on top), mashed potatoes, stuffing, noodles, sweet potatoes topped with nuts, and rolls. For dessert, chocolate cream pie vied with tradiional pumpkin pie to win over our taste buds. They even provided my husband's favorite sippin' wine, a Publix special called "Wild Vines Blackberry Merlot" that tastes like alcohol-enhanced Koolaid. Hubby used to be a teetotaler, but over last few years, he started drinking some cheap, sweet wines. Over time, his palate has expanded, and he likes the "good stuff" now, too, but wines that would be right at home in a brown paper bag still have a special place in his heart.

The abundant meal was wonderful, and it was especially nice to be among friends. In the past, when we sailed on the Wonder for Thanksgiving, we always felt at home; we cruise so often that we know many of the crew members, so it's almost like being among family. This year, I'm sure that a restaurant meal would have been nice (especially after the Disney phone rep. read me some of the menus, which had me drooling all over the phone), but one important thing would have been missing: friends and/or family. We were thankful to spend our first Celebration Thanksgiving with some of the friends that make this such a wonderful town.

A little later, more family members arrived. There was still plenty of food; after they had finished eating, we all gathered 'round to play an intriguing little game called "Apples to Apples." It's sort of hard to explain, but it's a great, fast-moving party game that's suitable for both kids and adults. It's also somewhat (gasp!) educational, since it involves word play and some of the cards feature historical figures.

Each player has a set of noun cards (persons, places, and things, as you might remember from "Schoolhouse Rock." During each round, one player draws an adjective card, and everyone else must choose a noun card that most closely matches or fits with it. The "adjective player" then collects the cards and chooses which he/she thinks is the best match. However, "best" is a subjective term, based entirely on that player's whim. It might be the funniest match, or even something so ridiculous that it tickles their fancy.

Each person takes a turn drawing an adjective and selecting the winner for each round. The overall winner is the player who makes a pre-set number of matches first.

I know that my description is hideously confusing; believe me, it a lot more fun than my Cliff Notes version makes it sound. Sometimes you're stuck with noun cards that are nowhere close to the adjective, and sometimes you have the perfect card. More often, you'll have some choices that are open to various interpretations. All of this makes for some interesting, and sometimes even hilarious, combinations. I think we ended up playing four spirited games before finally calling it a night.

As we wound through the streets of Celebration, we noticed that Christmas lights had sprung up on many of the houses as if by magic. On Friday, I knew that the nightly downtown "snowfalls" would start and the streets would be packed with tourists. Once upon a time, we were among them...for almost a decade, we flocked south to spend a precious week or two between Thanksgiving and Christmas in a nice, warm climate. Now, we are Floridians, and that warm climate is home sweet home for the entire holiday season and beyond. That, along with good friends, is truly something to be thankful for.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

I Love Celebration in the Winter

Ah, how I love Celebration in the winter! Actually, it's not officially winter yet, but it's getting too close for comfort. My husband called from Chicago this morning, complaining about wind chills in the single digits. Cold, wind, frostbite...ugh! I've been living in Florida full-time for almost a year, but I instantly had a flashback to long, bleak winters in the Windy City.

October's not a bad month back north. The leaves are still changing, and the first chilly nights inspire people to stoke up their fireplaces, scenting the air with the perfume of woodsmoke. There are hayrides, hot apple cider, and songs around the campfire. You can feel the growing anticipation as the calendar moves closer to Halloween. To heck with Thanksgiving...the Great Pumpkin's appearance now marks the (un)official gateway to the holiday season.

But after the last piece of candy is eaten and the last jack o'lantern turns to mush, you realize that it's November. Sure, you've got Turkey Day, Christmas, and New Year ahead of you, but bitter cold and blizzards are dead ahead, too. In Chicago, the stretch between November and March is interminable. By the end, pale, shivering, frostbitten natives are firmly convinced that spring (all three days of it) will never come again.

Here in Florida, it's hard to believe that the year is nearly at an end. I know it on a logical level, but instinctually I just can't accept it. How can it be winter when the sun is still shining and the trees are still green? Yes, it's a little bit cooler outside, but not "mitten and scarf chilly"...more like "get out and enjoy it" cool.

The gorgeous weather finally lured me out today. I've been busy getting ready to lauch my new business to see what it's all about, click here), so I've been glued to my laptop. I've had the windows wide open and the ceiling fans spinning to draw in the crisp, fresh air. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get outdoors.

I donned my walking shoes and went for a hike down to Aquila Reserve, one of my favorite areas of Celebration. Many of the homes have lake or preserve land views, and the boardwalk borders the lake. It felt so good to take a brisk walk, and I also indulged in one of my favorite past-times: checking out the houses. I love to see what other people have done in their yards and gardens, and many had started putting up their holiday decorations, too. I zig zagged up the streets and down the alleys, taking in the view.

My favorite area of Aquila Reserve is in the very back, where sprawling estate homes back up onto the lake or overlook heavily wooded areas. Although Aquila is part of Celebration, it's isolated back in its own little world. The woods still shelter wild turkeys and deer that come out to visit in the evening. Since my little corner of East Village borders the woods, too, we also get frequent wildlife visitors. It's such a treat to live only eight miles from the front gate of the Magic Kingdom and have the bonus of wild critter neighbors, too.

My husband will be home soon, and I can just imagine how happy he'll be to shed his winter coat and bask in Florida's balmy temperatures. Back when we were tourists, visiting Disney World two or three times a year, we would head off the plane and onto the jetway, feel the humidity engulf us, and breath a sigh of relief.

No, I don't miss Chicago, especially at this time of year. Celebration in the winter is the place to be!

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Rudolph the Politically Incorrect Reindeer

Since the Rankin-Bass classic, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," plays a big role in my holiday decor this year, it's been on my mind lately. If you really think about it, "Rudolph" is a very politically incorrect cartoon. I'm surprised there hasn't been a P.C. sequel like the travesty that features John Goodman as Frosty the Snowman, featuring a solstice-celebrating youngster. I'm all for honoring other traditions, religions, and holidays, but it annoys me when it's done in an obvious "look at how warm-and-fuzzy and inclusive we can be" manner.

Still, given the messages that Rudolph sends, there are a lot of places where the story could be shored up for a contemporary audience. For example, poor Rudolph is ostracized unmercifully by the rest of the young reindeer herd. In this day and age, the other young bucks would be forced into a sensitivity class to learn how to deal with "differently-abled" playmates sensitively and appropriately.

Donner, the coach, tears into little Rudy quite cruelly, too. If that was nowadays, I smell a big lawsuit. Rudolph's mom and dad surely could have won a cool million pounds of corn for the willful infliction of emotional distress on their physically challenged youngster. Rather than being excluded from the reindeer games, those games would be modified to accommodate Rudolph's "specialness" (I can just imagine who would win a "find your way through the dark cave" competition).

Actually, I think the Reindeer Games were a bit too competitive; the reindeer who weren't as good at flying had their fragile little self-esteems crushed. Donner should have been forced to create "competitions" where everyone is a winner. After all, the concept that the world should adapt to you and always make you feel warm and fuzzy is an important lesson that every young reindeer should learn as soon as possible.

When Rudolph reaches adulthood, he shouldn't have to put up with Santa Claus's blatant discrimination. After all, he's already proven that he's the most qualified critter for the job despite that bright, rosy honker (or, actually, because of it). In an appropriately updated version, he could file suit under the North Pole-ians with Disabilities Act rather than be forced to wait for a foggy night to prove himself.

I also suspect that Santa Claus might be the victim of an eating disorder. It's no wonder, what with Mrs. Claus following him around, demanding, "Eat, Santa, eat!" and sending him negative body image messages like "Nobody likes a skinny Santa."

Furthermore, the treatment of indigenous creatures (i.e. The Bumble) is nothing short of shameful. To have his teeth yanked out without benefit of anesthetic and then to be forced into a servile role is a glaring example of exploitation. But then again, it's no wonder that Hermey the Elf has unresolved anger issues that manifest themselves in Bumble abuse. The poor little dentist wanna-be is a helpless victim of stereotyping. After all, all elves made toys just like all Native Americans run casinos or all Indians work at 7/11, right?

Nobody thought about those issues when "Rudolph" was created 40 years ago. It was a rougher and less-easily-offended world back then, but somehow most of us who were raised in it managed to turn out okay.

Still, kids are impressionable, so I'm glad that modern cartoons and television shows are becoming more realistic and inclusive. The progress hasn't been as rapid as you might think. Just 15 years ago, in 1990, an episode of "The Simpsons" was going to feature a gay man, Karl, as Homer's secretary (voiced by Harvey Fierstein). The ensuing outcry forced them to change the episode; it contained many "hints," but never came right out and confirmed Karl's orientation.

By 1997, an openly gay kitsch store proprietor appears, and this year Marge's sister, Patty, came out of the closet as a lesbian (although there have been many hints about her in previous episodes).

Of course, my favorite example of inclusiveness is Virgin Mobile's new holiday, Chrismahanukwanzakah, created in 2004 as an ad campaign. The official date of their "all-inclusive celebration" was December 13, when they honored Christians, Muslims, Pagans, Jews, Agnostics, Scientologists, and just about any other group you can think of.

This year, they have ressurected their website, although sadly it doesn't feature the original song or commercial (thankfully, I saved them to CD last year). They also have a gift hotline, 1-888-ELP-POOP, where you can get gift-giving guidance from Jews, a Hindu Santa, a gay elf, a Black Muslim, or other the Chrismahanukwanzakah characters.

Yes, in the brave new millenia of 2000, it's a very different world. A cartoon like "Rudolph" would never pass muster in this day and age, but I still consider it a classic. As a little kid, I never pondered the societal implications; I just glued my eyes to the television like a good little Baby Boomer to get my yearly fix (remember, in those dark days, there were no such things as DVDs...we actually had to wait a whole year between holiday shows). It may have its politically incorrect moments, but at least it has the requisite happy ending. And when you're a kid, that's what matters the most.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Getting Into The Christmas Spirit

I'm getting into the Christmas spirit a little early this year, since Duloc Manor is one of the houses on the Holiday Home Tour. Over the past year, I've been boosting my collection of Rankin-Bass figures and decor. The tour is in early December, so now that Thanksgiving is fast approaching, I decided that it was time for an inventory.

Back in Chicago, I have a collection of character dolls and figures that are all still confined in their original wrappers (think Stinky Pete the Prospector in "Toy Story 2"). Personalities from Dennis Rodman (complete with extra dress-up outfits) to Ed Grimley to Dilbert to Drew Carey line the shelves of our condo loft, since there is no room for them in Duloc Manor. I've had some of my Rankin-Bass figures for a few years, but they've never been out of their boxes. After a decade of collecting, it was difficult for me to steel my resolve and destroy their "mint" condition.

The whole doll collecting neurosis is something I undoubtedly inherited from my mother. She had some strange traits where toys were concerned; I wasn't allowed to touch most of my childhood "playthings." They sat on shelves for admiring, not for tea parties or romps in the park or snuggling with at bedtime. Oddly enough, her obsession extended to other types of toys, too. I still remember my first grade birthday party, when I excitedly tore open all the packages in a frenzy of delight. The item that I had my eye on most was something called "Bangles," which was basically a big, purple box of beads and baubles to make your own jewelry.

Unfortunately, the minute the house was cleared of guests, good old Ma stacked up all my presents, marched them down to the basement, and placed them up on a high shelf where they remained until the house was sold many, many years later. Sometimes I would gaze up at them longingly, but I knew better than to do anything but look from afar. Somehow, I don't think a box of bangles had any collectible value; goodness only knows what was on Mommy Dearest's mind.

So now here I am, doing the same thing a generation later, which my brother loves to tease me for (but believe me, if I had kids, they would be allowed to manhandle and mangle their toys as much as they wanted...I'd no doubt have a tribe of little Sids). It was probably quite therapeutic to rip open those boxes and free the playthings within. By the time I had managed to wrestle all of the little figures out of the mountains of tape and twist ties, I was exhausted! I don't think the Crown Jewels could have been packaged more securely than those little plastic figures.

The family room had been transformed into a wasteland of plastic and cardboard...or, if you're a feline, a wonderful kitty playground. I let the cats romp among the refuse until I heard the garbage truck coming. Our trash pickup in Celebration has been very erratic lately, so when you hear the garbage men, you'd better make sure that your junk is out. I frantically shooed the cats and consolidated everything I could; I made it to the alley in the nick of time.

Slowly but surely, Rudolph and his gang took over the entertainment center and spread onto the table. In the front room, I placed my Christmas Story figures, and in the upstairs bedroom the Disney Cruise Line theme was challenged by Charlie Brown and his gang marching across the dresser with their motley little tree.

As my house filled with memories of my favorite childhood cartoons, I could feel an early bout of the Christmas spirit overtaking me. Maybe I'm too old to play with toys now, but it made me smile to see Snow Miser grinning above the television and the Bumble hanging from the kitchen light fixture. In the front room, a replica of the "fragile" (pronounce that frah-ghee-lay) leg lamp cast a soft, yellow glow. I think that's one of the reasons that I love Celebration so much; my childhood was deferred, so now it's wonderful to live just a stone's throw from the Magic Kingdom, where anyone can indulge ther childlike wonder, no matter what their age.

Being surrounded by decorations all day Monday put me into a Christmas music mood by Tuesday. I dug out my holiday CDs and slipped them, one by one, into my laptop to serenade me as I plowed through all the work that had stacked up while I was on vacation.

Soon, I was thinking back to my first Christmas season in Celebration. It was way back in 2002, when Duloc Manor was still just a big patch of sand and East Village Three was a spec of color on the map. My husband and I were residents in waiting who had stopped downtown for "Now Snowing Nightly," the annual hourly blizzard of soapsuds that reminds those of us who fled from the North of just why we prefer Florida.

In 2002 (and in 2003, when our new house was a mere three months old), The Celebration Company (aka Disney) still owned Downtown Celebration. As the soapy snow coated the street, they played a medley of seasonal tunes through tinny speakers. I really liked one of the songs, but it was something that I had never heard before...very upbeat and perky. Since they played it in '02 and '03, I assumed that I'd hear it in 2004, too. I was hoping to catch some of the words so I could hunt down the elusive tune on the internet.

No such luck...Lexin, the new owner of downtown, totally changed the recording. I won't even go into the corny verbage, and the montage of songs was completely different too. I was very disappointed, but then I forgot all about it until another Celebration Christmas loomed ahead.

Thankfully, a friend in town had the 2003 snowfall on video. He was able to pick out enough of the words, even above the children's laughing and yelling, to identify the mystery song as "Merry Christmas Everyone" by someone named Shakin' Steven, circa 1985.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, as I've always been a fan of offbeat Christmas songs. I like some traditional tunes, such as "Carol of the Bells" and "Silver Bells," but I also love some obscure numbers like "A Spaceman Came Travelling" by Chris De Burgh and Little River Band's version of "Mary's Boy Child." Here's my ultimate Christmas song list so you can see my eclectic taste:

Carol of the Bells
Silver Bells
Do They Know It's Christmas
Theme from Christmas Vacation
Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth (David Bowie/Bing Crosby Version)
Merry Christmas Everyone
Feliz Navidad
Mary's Boy Child (Harry Belafonte and Little River Band versons)
Happy Xmas (War is Over)
Step Into Christmas (Elton John)
A Spaceman Came Travelling (Chris De Burgh)
Snoopy's Christmas
Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer (original version)
All Alone on Christmas (from Home Alone 2)
What Are You Doing New Years Eve (Dante & The Evergreens version)

I was able to locate a Shakin' Steven holiday CD on Amazon, but I should have remembered that God has a wicked sense of humor. I was shuffling through my CDs, most of which are Christmas collections that I bought for one or two songs. Thus, I only play those particular songs, and the rest of the CD goes unheard. Lo and behold! On an album called "It's Christmas Time," which I'd bought for "Do They Know It's Christmas" and "A Spaceman Came Travelling," the long-sought-after name popped off the liner and smacked me right in the eye. For three years, I've longed for that song, and for three years it's been as close as my music rack...right there on the CD I was holding in my hand!!

I quickly slipped the disc into my laptop and lost myself in memories of my very first Christmas season in Celebration. The computer's tinny speaker gave the experience an air of authenticity...it helped me imagine that I was on Market Street, dancing around in the bubbly "snowflakes" and marvelling that I was standing in a blizzard in a 70-degree land of palm trees.

Another year is rapidly drawing to a close; as soon as Thanksgiving arrives, the passage of time will jump to warp speed and Christmas will be here and gone...before we know it, it will be a new year already. I'm glad that I've gotten a jump start on the holiday season. You can never have enough happiness and goodwill, and you have to grasp those fleeting moments when you feel like a child again because they become so rare as the years advance.

I'll close with the immortal words of Shakin' Steven (that first verse sums up my feelings during the downtown snowfall perfectly):

"Snow is falling
all around me
children playing
having fun
it's the season
love and understanding
merry christmas everyone

time for parties and celebration
people dancing all night long
time for presents
and exchanging kisses
time for singing christmas songs"

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Another Founders Day

It's hard to believe, but my husband and I celebrated our third Founders Day in Celebration this year. For the uninitiated, Founders Day is a pseudo-holiday created by Disney to "create a tradition" and foster a sense of community. It is held each year in early November, and as the name implies, it celebrates the founding of our town.

The festivities typically start on Friday night with a community carnival that is reminiscent of an old-time fun fair. For the past two years, hubby and I missed the carnival because we were still commuting from Chicago. We had to fly to Florida after putting in a full work day, so we didn't land until somewhere around midnight, when the carnival was long over.

This year, I was looking forward to attending it for the first time. The nice thing about the Friday event is that it's mainly for residents. I don't mind big, crowded tourist extravaganzas, but it's nice to have some happenings that are geared primarily towards the locals. Unfortunately, I soon realized that our timing was off for yet another year. We were scheduled for a Disney cruise the week of 11/5, so on the day of the carnival we would be sunning ourselves on Disney's private island.

Oh well, at least we'd be back on Saturday for the main festivities. These include "Taste of Celebration" (mainly, the same old food booths from the same downtown restaurants that are trotted out for every special event), and the flag raising/brick unveiling ceremony. We like to watch the mad "brick stampede" each year, as new residents frantically search for the little red rectangle commemorating the purchase of their home. You have to purchase new construction in order to get a brick, and the new additions for the past year are unveiled each Founders Day. They're in no special order, so once the blue tarp is thrown back, it's every new resident for themselves as people scatter in search of their names.

It took us so long to find our brick way back in 2003 that I was half convinced it was all a big practical joke. I suspected that the people who were shouting, "Wow! There is is!" were merely shills, planted to give the rest of us poor schmucks hope. After an hour or two, the old timers would form a circle around us, laughing and chanting, "Suckers!" Then I found my next door neighbors' brick, and finally I located ours, strategically located between the "D" and "I" in the word "Florida" that rings the flagpole.

Back then, most of the other names didn't mean a thing to me. Now, when I drag unsuspecting visitors to the brick patch, I recognize many of the names as I direct them to the one that commemorates "Barb & Tony's Place" (while most people have their family name, you can put whatever you want on it).

But my favorite part of Founder's Day is the town photo, where as many Celebration residents as possible cram onto the lawn at Lakeside Park, smile, and say "Cheese" for a group shot that is taken overhead from a crane. Or at least that is the theory...in practice, the crowd has gotten progressively smaller each year. The first year we took part, everyone had to get up close and personal in order to fit into the designated area (the grass is marked with tape strips that mark the camera's boundaries). Last year, the crowd was markedly more sparse. Both shots are hanging on the wall in my hallway, and different is quite striking.

This year, the amount of people was even more anemic. But still, it's a matter of pride for my husband and I to take part. We wore our Bunny Brigade headgear (monorail "ears" and green diddly-boppers), as did several other members of the Brigade. I can't wait to see how it turns out, with fuzzy ears sticking up amidst the sea of faces. The photo appears in Celebration News, and Town Hall typically sells prints, so yet another piece of artwork will soon be added to my hallway. It's sad that the trio of photos is also a chronicle of the dwindling attendance.

I wonder if bribery has anything to do with it. At our first Founders Day, there was a big raffle with all sorts of tempting prizes, ranging from a stay at the Celebration Hotel and golf at the local course to gift certificates for local businesses and restaurants. Leave it to me to win the golf, since I've never played anything other than Putt-Putt in my life! Fortunately, I was able to swap with someone for a Seito gift certificate, which I knew that my sushi-loving husband would appreciate. The raffle tickets were handed out just before the photo was taken, and the prizes were awarded afterwards (not just after the photo, but at the end of the community service awards ceremony), so there was a captive audience. There were lots of speeches that year, but I doubt that many of the residents really heard them; they were inwardly salivating at the prospect of snaring a prize.

Last year, there was another raffle, but on a decidedly smaller scale. There were several items, but you had to select just one of them and enter your ticket in the specific drawing for that item.

This year, there was no raffle at all. Once the photo was over, most of the people scattered to the four winds before the awards ceremony. It's a shame because they missed the official naming of our downtown lake (now dubbed Lake Rianhard after a very special, inspirational member of the community). After that, the small crowd headed to the downtown stage, where the awards would be handed out. It was still early (there is a "residents' preview" before the "Taste of Celebration," i.e. the food booths, are officially opened to the general public), so there weren't too many people in the Market Street area yet.

The spouse of the Bunny Brigade's High Priestess was one of the award recipients (no, not because he is married to the founder/leader of Celebration's premier social organization; he is a very active community volunteer). After applauding the winners, we headed to a lakeside table to down some sangria; it wouldn't be a downtown Celebration event without the Columbia Restaurant's sigature alcoholic concoction.

Our next door neighbors had shown up for the photo too (and, as good Bunny Brigade members, at least one of them donned the sacred ears). They joined us for a drink, and since they hadn't had dinner yet, we piled into Canyonero and headed to Logan's Roadhouse, just across 192. Yes, I know it was "Taste of Celebration," but there's only so many times you can eat food from the same vendors. We've been attending downtown festivities since 2003, so I could find the booths with my eyes shut and recite their menus from memory.

We made it to Logan's just before the massive dinner rush. We only had to wait about 10 minutes or so, but my neighbor didn't mind because she'd grabbed a bucket of peanuts. While we waited, she munched on the tasty goobers, tossing the shells on the floor (which is the accepted custom at the roadhouse). Even when we were ushered to our table, she clung possessively to her nut bucket.

We all enjoyed a delicious meal of various styles of dead cow. There is a cattle pasture just down the road from Logan's, and as I enjoy a tasty steak, I can't help but picture the chef slipping out the back door with a sledgehammer and crooning, "Here, Bossy! Come here!"

We debated heading back downtown after the meal, but parking was scarce so we gave up and called it a night. Hopefully the proliferation of cars meant that there was a good turnout. One of the big draws of Founder's Day was absent this year: The fireworks. People tended to head downtown early to secure a good lakeside table, which they would guard against all comers until showtime. Now, with nothing to look forward to, I wonder if attendees stayed as long. And I wonder how many still thought they were going to see a fireworks display and who got a rude surprise at 9 p.m.!

The continued shrinkage of the crowd worries me. Special events are one of the things that makes Celebration unique; losing them will push us a few notches closer to being just another Florida subdivision.

Sunday was much more heartening for the future of community events. After church, we headed to the Farmer's Market, which recently moved from the vast wasteland of the 851 Building parking lot to Market Street, and I was pleased to see a steady stream of browsers wandering among the booths.

When the Farmer's Market first returned to town after its summer hiatus, it looked like yet another Celebration institution might go the way of the Beach Party, pedal boats, downtown apartments, and Lights & Lemonade. Its old location on Front Street had been made impractical by construction work on the controversial downtown condos. Initially, it was moved to the 851 Building because there is a large parking lot and access to restrooms at the school gym.

Unfortunately, while the facilities might have been technically better, most people had no clue that the market was even there. It needs foot traffic to survive; not just Celebration residents, but the tourists and visitors who frequent the downtown streets over the weekend. The new location was much too far from the beaten path to attract any of those critical customers.

We visited the market a couple of times while it was in exile. The second time, the number of merchants was noticably less (customers were virtually non-existent both times). Thankfully, the public outcry brought about a move, and now it's back in the midst of the foot traffic. Actually, the present location, right in the middle of Market Street, is even better. It's convenient for locals to walk over after church, and it's right by the shops and restaurants where it can attract the patrons who are just visitng town.

As we headed towards the cluster of booths so I could get my fresh lemonade and pastry fix, I quickly noticed that it looked like a lively, thriving market rather than a motley, abandoned afterthought. If it remains in the new location, I think it will be with us for a long time to come.

If you'd like to see photos from Founders Day (courtesy of Jan and Charlie), click here (note: there are lots of pics, so it will load slowly).

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com

Celebrating Halloween

Finally! My first full Halloween in Celebration!

Even though we've owned Duloc Manor for two years, we were still commuting back and forth to the Midwest. Now that we've settled into Celebration permanently, I can finally enjoy my favorite holiday properly.

I'm suffering from a Halloween deficit, having lived in a condo for almost a decade. Before that, I lived in a townhome where my husband and I put on a spectacle each year. Outside, our house looked plain and unassuming (albeit like something out of the 70s, since it was sided in a groovy shade of avocado). But once the kids knocked on the door, they'd be greeted by my husband in a tattered, bloody t-shirt with a handcuff dangling from his wrist. He'd thrust a handful of candy at them and yell, "Hurry! Take the candy and run! You've got to escape before SHE gets back." Then I'd burst out of hiding, wearing a Grim Reaper get-up, complete with bloody knife. I'd drag poor hubby back into the house and slam the door to his screams.

We built up quite a reputation among the neighborhood kids. On one notable Halloween, a group came to the door while my husband was on a potty break. They weren't satisfied with a lone Grim Reaper; they chanted, "Do the show!" I sent them away for a few minutes, and they returned when hubby was done with his pit stop.

Sometimes I wonder if the people who bought that townhome wondered why they got so many trick-or-treaters the first year or two. Meanwhile, we moved into a third-floor condo, and I went through several years of Halloween deficit. To make up for some of it, my husband and I became haunted house connesuiers. There wasn't a church, school, or community spookhouse fund raiser within 30 miles (or sometimes more) that we didn't visit.

Some of the more notable haunted houses we visited were the one with live rats, the one with a slide from the top floor to the ground floor, and the one in an abandoned church where you were locked into a claustrophobic "elevator" and buried in Chuckie Cheese-style balls (in pitch darkness, when you have no idea what's going on, it's much scarier than it sounds). We also enjoyed the "alien base" where you were blinded with a spotlight and then thrust into complete darkness, eventually finding your way out into a direct line of machine-gun fire. The most unique had to be a church-sponsored haunted house, held in a vacant store in a semi-abandoned shopping mall. In addition to the traditional scenes, there was a graphic depiction of the crucifiction, and then you had to walk over "Hell," complete with tortured souls being pitchforked by shrieking demons.

We also tried to get to Six Flags every year, although their haunted houses tended to be polarized...either really great or really awful. The scariest was the year that we got in after waiting over an hour, only to hear the announcement, "This attraction has temporarily ceased operation"...now, that was scary! Occasionally, we'd check out the Halloween festivities as Six Flags parks in other states, and even at Cedar Point (my favorite amusement park). And of course we did Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party; the best part of that is the Headless Horseman.

Now that we have our home in Celebration, I can once again greet the trick-or-treaters. We didn't do anything too elaborate this year, as I wasn't sure how many kids would show up. Although Main Village (i.e. Downtown Celebration) tends to be a mob scene, East Village is off the beaten path, and Duloc Manor is tucked away on a cul de sac. Thus, I decided to go for modest-but-inviting. I put pumpkin lights out in the flower bed, a light-up spider in the front bush, and an inflatable black cat to guard the front door. In keeping with the cat-and-pumpkin theme, I found a perfect decorative wreath at Cracker Barrel.

Publix had an awesome giant inflatable Snoopy/Woodstock, but they were too pricey. Lo and behold, while grocery shopping today, I discovered that they were 50 percent off. Soon they were staked out on my lawn to greet the tick-or-treaters.

The days leading up to Halloween were a whirlwind. We did the Haunted Trolley Tour described in my previous blog entry, and we also went to a costume party over the weekend. I had an inflatable cowgirl-on-a-horse outfit, and I somehow talked poor hubby into wearing a hospital gown with an open back and a very prominent fake butt.

Parties are fun, but I still miss trick-or-treating (probably the voyeur in me; I enjoyed the candy, but the best part was knocking on strangers' doors and peeking into their houses). If I were given the opportunity to do just one childhood experience over again, it would have to be one of those wonderful, reckless Halloween nights. When I was a kid, we trick-or-treated for hours, traveling far from home. The only thing that stopped us was when our bulging shopping bags became too heavy to carry. We didn't worry about tainted candy; our favorite goodies were the homemade treats like caramel apples and popcorn balls.

Things are different now. Trick-or-treating is a cautious, controlled experience. I'm sure it's still fun, but I'm sad that the children of today will never know that wonderful sense of freedom.

But since I can't beg from door to door myself, I can still enliven the experience for the kiddies. I donned my inflatable horse costume, complete with a fresh set of batteries, filled up a basket with chocolate temptations, and waited for the doorbell to ring.

I had planned a quick jaunt to Main Village first, as I wanted to see the legendary crowds firsthand. Last year, my husband and I flew back to Chicago on Halloween afternoon. As we drove down Celebration Avenue on our way to the airport, we saw the mass of people already gathering. There were literally busloads of trick-or-treaters pulling into town! I was dying to stay, but that wasn't a possibility.

This year, at least I was in Florida, but I ended up having to stay around the East Village homestead. A phone company technician came out to install a new line this afternoon, since I am starting a new business this month. Unfortunately, he needed to run it from the main box in the alley, and the line was nowhere to be found. All the other lots are tagged, but ours is missing. Finally, he had to give up till tomorrow, but by that time it was too late to head out.

Oh well, it was after five, the official start time of Halloween. The candy was ready, my costume was ready, and Stitch-kitty was ready to sprint out the door the moment it opened. I brought my laptop into the front-room so I could do some work while anticipating the first little goblins of the night.

Trick-or-treat started out slow; at first, I was beginning to worry that we might not get anyone at all! There were only a few houses on my cul de sac with their porch lights on (signifying that they were handing out candy), so perhaps some of the kids didn't want to veer from the main street for a relatively small payoff. Fortunately, the children started to trickle in, and then they began arriving more steadily. I was glad that I had bought Snoopy because he is huge and he lights up. Our house is smack dab in the middle of the block, so he stood like a beacon once darkness had fallen.

I didn't get nearly as many youngsters as those in the main part of town (one person reported 500 by 7:30!). But the doorbell rang steadily from 5:30 to about 7:30, and the last group arrived a little past 8. I made it about 3/4 of the way through a 100-piece bag of candy, although I let most of the kids take more than one. Farquaad and Tooncinator stayed out of sight, but Stitch managed to escape twice. Fortunately, he doesn't go far, especially when there are admirers on hand to pet him and make a fuss over him. He's mostly black, so he makes a perfect Halloween cat.

I love seeing the kids' costumes. Superheros and Star Wars were both big this year; I liked the Batman and Spiderman costumes with light-up fiber optic logos. A lot of the youngsters were also carrying multi-colored glow sticks for safety. The kids (and some of the adults) got a kick out of my costume, too. It was rather unwieldly, since I had to maneuver a huge inflated horse head and legs in front of me while a mini fan vibrated disconcertingly on my butt, but the peoples' reactions were well worth it.

Now it's 9 o'clock, and there hasn't been a knock on the door for almost an hour. Halloween is over for another year, and the rush-rush Christmas season will burst forth in full bloom by tomorrow. But even though Thanksgiving and Christmas get all the big play, Halloween will always be my favorite. Now that I live in Celebration, it will be better than ever...I'm already planning how I'll expand my decorations next year.

Learn more about Celebration on my website: www.celebrationinfo.com