December 1, 2017 – Casa de Murphy

Happy Thanksgiving! There is much to be thankful for, and reflect on, as we head into this holiday season.

We kicked off our Thanksgiving Break with a trip to our happy place — the Magic Kingdom. This was most likely our last trip to this park before our passes are blocked out for the rest of the holiday season, so it was fun to check out all the Christmas decorations. It really put me & Liam in the spirit! Stephen had to work, so it was just the two of us hanging out. We found Snow White hanging out by Main Street in the Candy Cane Garden. It was such a sweet surprise.

While at the park, we decided to ride the Jungle Cruise over in Adventure Land, which I hadn’t been on in years & Liam had never been on yet. I didn’t realize until we got over there that it was done up with Christmas decorations & renamed the “Jingle Cruise”. There were the cutest decorations all throughout the ride, the boat captain’s commentary was all themed to the holiday, as well, and they were playing the “I Want A Hippopotamus For Christmas” song in line. I have to say it was so perfect and we loved it! So happy we found that! ❤

We took a road trip for the holiday & headed up to Jacksonville to my dad & stepmom’s. Liam fell getting out of the car on the drive up there & hit his cheekbone on the pavement. Based on his symptoms, his doctor recommended us to take him to get checked out at the ER. Not gonna lie that we were shaken up for hot second, but thankfully all was well & he is okay. The Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in Jax was absolutely AMAZING and we will forever be grateful for their care. Also truly grateful for the support of our family & my sweet friend, Beamer, who was dealing with me texting her at the crack of dawn asking where we could take him up there.

Love this boy! A little scraped up but blessed that he checked out okay.

We got back to my dad & stepmom’s after our hospital adventure with enough time to still tune into the Macy’s Parade. It was the perfect distraction & helped to get us settled in & calmed down for the day.

I didn’t snap too many pics during our stay, but this was one memory I had to capture. When my dad is in the kitchen, this is how you find Timber. Sitting at attention & completely focused on him. Can you tell he loooves his Papa? It can’t be that he gets delicious treats or anything 😛 …lol

The obligatory pic of our fabulous dinner 🙂

I was one of those who did crazy online shopping both Thursday & Friday….but, we did brave the crowds for a bit on Black Friday to grab a few things I couldn’t find in my online travels. Thanks to Papa G & G-Ma for keeping an eye on little man while we shopped.

Friday evening it was nice & chilly up in Jax, so we had a fire out back to roast marshmallows & make s’mores. It was so fun!

Saturday morning, we headed back home. It was a great visit but we also wanted to save time for regular chores & breaking out the Christmas decorations (more on that next time). On Sunday morning, we had a visitor from the North Pole make his appearance again — Mr. Elf!! Liam loves the Tsum Tsum toys from Disney, so he was stoked to get an Advent calendar from Mr. Elf with that theme.

Mr. Elf also brought a letter from Santa. It was so sweet to see Liam’s eyes light up when we all read that together. He was a little more skeptical this year on how Mr. Elf got here & back from the North Pole …but this letter is the real deal. When we finished the letter, he said to us, “I BELIEVE …all 3 of us do and we have Christmas Spirit” ❤ ….yes, Little Man, yes we do.

A few weeks ago, he & I went to the mall to visit our favorite Santa’s helper (as we like to call the mall Santa’s). I was excited because we got the same Santa for the 3rd year in a row. Just love it! Liam asked for a skate board ….that was a shocker to us, but we’re working with Santa on it.

It was a great weekend, overall. Definitely looking forward to the holiday season. Everyday is a gift, and we have much we have been blessed with. We are THANKFUL you have taken the time to stop by our little spot on this great big cyberspace.