Christmas day!

Merry Christmas!

Everyone slept late – myself included! Perhaps it was to delay the inevitable strange feeling of Christmas in a hotel room? I don’t know. But the girls did have presents to open and they were a bit excited and said they liked all their gifts. I really hadn’t done a good job of special wrapping or anything and that is usually my forte at the holidays. Sorry girls.

We headed down to a late breakfast and realized that everyone in the entire hotel had the same idea. It was mobbed. This stunk. We had to wait for a table. We realized that we hadn’t ever travelled over the holidays before except to see family so we weren’t used to this. I don’t like traveling with so many people to begin with and certainly don’t like waiting in lines and squeezing through crowds for my omelet. I realized while trying to make this Christmas easier for myself I maybe had been selfish and taken away the real feeling of the holiday for the girls. This reminded me of the movie “Christmas With the Kranks”!

Then it was off to a relaxing afternoon by the pool. Again everyone else had the same idea. And to make matters worse the hotel had decided to use this time to renovate one of their pools so we were all crammed into 2 swimming areas as opposed to 3. There weren’t any chairs available so we had to bring mats onto the grass. At first this wasn’t so bad actually lying under the palm trees. But then it got really warm and there wasn’t any breeze. Leon gave up and went back to the room! I had other plans for the girls!

I had made arrangements for the three of us to have pedicures at the hotel spa! What a beautiful setting it was! The Spa had separate rooms for guests and we were in our own little cabin! This was Sara’s first official pedicure so she was very happy! We sat back and relaxed and had “the best pedicure ever” according to Elise! The women were so gentle and the foot bowls were sunken into the wooden floor boards, and the water was sprinkled with flower petals! The scenery and music helped make the atmosphere very special! The smiles were worth it all! Thank you Santa!

Our Christmas evening was going to be spent watching a local show called “Fantasea”! We were picked up at the hotel at 5:30. It was a long ride but we rode past Patong Beach, which is a famous beach here. It was reminded of Ft Lauderdale at spring break! It was very crowded with stores and restaurants all along the road side, but the sunset was worth it!

Fantasea was sort of like Magic Kingdom! You enter an area that is like Main Street in Disney! We were surrounded by bright lights, carnival type games and stores! Of course one has to walk through this area to get to the dinner hall! Very smart these people are! The dining hall was a set up for a massive buffet – room for 3000 – I’m not kidding! Food from all over the world was spread out all around the hall! It was overwhelming actually! Then it was over to the show! Again like Disney, you wait in a line with hundreds of other people but you don’t realize it because of all the festivities going on around you! The seats we had to the show weren’t great, but the show was enjoyable. There were amazing acrobats, traditional dances, and of course the elephant show!

We got home late – almost midnight, but then we skyped with my Mom, sister and her family, as it was just morning time for them! That was really neat!

All in all, it was a good Christmas. Maybe not what the girls had expected, but we made the best of not being at home and with family & friends!