We were given a few Christmas inspired items from shopDisney to have a cosy family night in talking about Christmas. Which isn’t hard to start going with two excitable girls. The products we received included personalised pyjamas, a Jigsaw, two Mugs for hot chocolate and some colouring in crafts. With the weather turning colder and the nights getting dark, we set up for our cosy night in.
Family Fun on a dark night
With us, all in our pyjamas getting comfortable for a night in together, set our phones and tablets to one side to play and chat. The first item we started with was the jigsaw.
The last time we did a jigsaw together was a very simple small one with about 40 pieces. This Ravensburger Puzzle had 1,000 pieces and featured a picture of all the Disney characters surrounding a train at Christmas. The concept of “finding the edges” and “start with the corners” hadn’t developed with the girls. Tackling a puzzle of this size required some teamwork. I remember building jigsaws with my Dad as a child and losing hours looking for “two prongs or three holes”. In a way, it’s like a way of bonding doing one project together. It wasn’t long before Abigail started to find matching pieces to build up characters.
The more we worked together the more we chatted about our Disney memories. A couple of years ago we went to Disneyland Paris just before Christmas. This is something that Abigail keeps bringing up as one of her favourite breaks we’ve had. Being absorbed in a magical environment and escaping the “real world” for a few days is clearly appealing. Whether that is traveling away from home, escaping the jobs or simply spending time together as a family, it’s really set an impression on her. Meeting her favourite characters dressed in their Christmas best.
One of our Disney Traditions we have at Christmas is the tree ornaments. Every year we gain a new Disney ornament (or several). On shopDisney they have a nice selection of Disney ornaments that I’d love to add this year. How cute is this Baymax tree ornament?
Abigail used to take off the Disney Princess ones and play with them on the floor. Which was fine until they were getting bashed together. We’ve got Nemo and Dory from a holiday that reminds us about our first time seeing Finding Nemo the Musical at WDW. Last year we were given an item from a blogging Friend, that they’d bought from Walt Disney World, Orlando for us. It was a 2017 Disney Key ornament. It is quite touching when I realise that we have bonded with so many great friends that know what makes us happy. And for them to take 5 minutes out of their holiday to find us a gift.
Which is what Christmas ultimately is about to us. It’s about being together with the ones who are important in your life.
Starting on the Christmas Cards
We’d completed about a fifth of the jigsaw (nearly completing the edges too). When the girls wanted to start the colouring in items. Both wanting to start on the Cards.
The Colouring cards feature Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Piglet.
Out of nowhere, Imogen piped up “Can you remember my friends Tigger and Pooh?”. This was a show that was on Playhouse Disney / Disney Junior that we used to watch. There are so many programs that we used to watch that Abigail being younger doesn’t even know existed.
One Christmas we marked our planners for the release of Disney’s Prep & landing. The Christmas special feature about what goes on in preparations for Santa’s big arrival. The crew of specially trained elves prep the landing sites ready for the Santa’s Sleigh. We’ll have to try and find it for Abigail this year. The movie really got us in the Christmas mood.
As did Frozen when it was released 5 years ago. This was the first movie that we as a family saw twice within a few weeks. It’s snowy setting really had that Christmas feel.
Creating Christmas Memories
Now with Christmas just around the corner and the winter weather setting in, we really don’t need an excuse to have a few more cosy nights in during the festive season. If we can be persuaded to leave the warmth of the fire, we will check out Disney’s re-make of Mary Poppins which opens on 19th December. There’s been a 54-year gap between the original and the sequel so let’s hope it was worth the wait!
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