This past weekend we took our annual trip to Silver Dollar City in Branson to visit the Old Time Christmas festival there. The past couple of years we've stopped in Osceola on the way to get some cheese, and I think the boys would like this to become part of the annual tradition. . .
When I say "boys", that most definitely includes my husband. He loves Osceola!
I don't think you could find a more appropriate place to "Say Cheese!"
We've been going to this Christmas festival since 2009, and most years the weather has been fantastic for December. Until last year. Last year during our visit to Silver Dollar City at Christmas, there was freezing rain falling and the weather conditions were less than ideal, to say the least. When I saw the forecast for rain the whole time we were there, I was very disappointed. Russ assured me that it wouldn't rain ALL DAY and we would have a great time. Such a glass-half-full husband I have! Well, it was raining when we arrived at the park. . .
. . . but let up within the first half hour of being there. We got some hot wassail and listened to the beautiful music of Pure Heart while we waited for the rest of the park to open. (Wassail is a red drink, and you'll see in the upcoming pictures of Evelyn that she was a huge fan of the stuff! She walked around with a red mouth all day.)
We decided to hit as many rides as we could before the rain started back up. As it turned out, the rain never really started back up until way later in the evening! It turned out to be a fantastic day to be at Silver Dollar City because the rainy forecast scared everyone away, but then it didn't end up being very rainy! Not only that, the temperatures never dropped below 50 degrees, so we didn't even need coats. We got so lucky! So first up for rides, Calvin convinced me to ride the Barn Swing with him.
Did I mention there was no one on the rides with us?? Seriously we were the only people on nearly every ride all day! Doesn't get much better than that!
This thing goes up SO HIGH!!
Then Russ rode Outlaw Run with Calvin, the new all-wood roller coaster.
Russ decided that one time was enough on this one.
Violet got to ride Fire in the Hole; not sure how much she liked it.
By next year, Evelyn will be the magical 36 inches so she can ride, too!
It was a bummer for Oliver because many of the rides have a minimum height of 48 inches, and my second son is 47.5 inches, no kidding. He was given this "pony express" coin to bring next time that will get him to the front of the line of any 48" ride. Although today, that was certainly not an issue as I mentioned there were definitely no lines and we were the only riders. He was a good sport about it, though, and there were still several rides for him.
Calvin hit the final height requirement of 52 inches that allowed him to ride Wild Fire, so he rode it many times.
The foggy day made for some cool roller coaster pictures! You'll just have to take my word that Calvin and Russ are in one of those upside-down seats.
They have GREAT shows at Christmastime. I'm hopeful that in a couple of years the kids will be old enough to sit through some of the longer shows like "A Christmas Carol" or "It's a Wonderful Life", but for now we get "Frosty." Again, because there were hardly any people there, my kids got a front row seat on the stage for the show.
When it started 'snowing', my kids weren't sure what to think -- that stuff was coming down pretty hard!
Since it stopped raining, I convinced the kids to sit in the sleigh by the great big tree for another picture. They were much happier than in the rainy pictures at the beginning!
Next we hit the Jingle Bell Junction where the kids carefully selected their 2014 ornament for their individual trees.
There are always so many to choose from, but Evelyn didn't take long finding the perfect snowman ornament.
Everyone else found theirs as well.
Ornament shopping success!
The decorations at Silver Dollar City are just beautiful. In addition to the 5 million or so (!) lights, they have wreaths and trees everywhere you look.
Next up we went to my favorite show, the Living Nativity.
This story is told from the Angel Gabriel's point of view and it is the absolute best telling of the Christmas story ever.
A trip to Silver Dollar City wouldn't be complete without a stop at the Funnel Cake stand.
We had fun riding the Sing-along Steam Train. This train goes all around the park to see the beautiful lights and listen to 'Grandpa' tell the story of Christmas straight out of Luke chapter 2.
The lit-up tunnels were extra pretty.
After the train, we checked out more of the lights as we waited for the Big Tree to be lit.
The wet pavement made the reflections of the lights look so cool!
There's the tree just before the lighting. . .
. . .it's just too bad the girls slept through it!
There it goes! All of the beautiful light dance along to the music. It's truly like no other light show I've ever seen.
It was an almost perfect day at Silver Dollar City! Lots of rides, front row seats at the shows, and no coats necessary!
Pizza for a late dinner and lots of swimming in the hotel pool finished off our great trip!
I love this tradition! It gets me in the Christmas spirit like nothing else can!
I'll leave you with a song that Pure Heart sang as we were starting our day, "It's About the Cross." I love this song and it really makes you think about the Christmas celebration in a different light. It reminds us that although we are celebrating the birth of Jesus right now, we must be ever mindful of WHY he had to be born as a human and ultimately the death he would endure for us.
"The beginning of the story is wonderful and great, but it's the ending that can save and that's why we celebrate!"
No comments:
Post a Comment