Luminaria

Our schedule has slowed down so much during this pandemic year. I've gotten accustomed to not having very many events on the calendar, so now when I do have something, I hardly know how to handle it. Last week Daisy had an orthodontist appointment that took all of 12 minutes, and it stressed me out for the entire week. 

This week, things are going to get crazy. I have something every night. I even had to cancel one thing in order to attend another thing. I don't know how to live like this anymore! Fortunately, some of the things are fun. But some of them are not. Like dentist appointments.

Speaking of scheduled events, we had one over the weekend. In lieu of a Christmas party, Scotty's mom bought everyone in the family VIP tickets to Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point for Saturday. It's a walk-thru Christmas light display in Ashton Gardens (it will be featured on "The Great Christmas Light Fight" on ABC this week). 

With the VIP tickets, we got premiere parking, unlimited hot chocolate, and punch cards for food. We also got backpacks full of goodies including Christmas light necklaces - the joy of which we had not previously known!

We've been to the gardens many times in the past, but this was our first time attending Luminaria. 

I have to say, the VIP experience was pretty awesome. The food was mediocre, but it was fun to be able to let the kids get pretty much whatever they wanted to eat, and the hot chocolate was delightful!

We dressed everyone up in full-on snow gear, which made for the longest bathroom breaks of all time, but it kept us all warm. Thanksgiving Point is often windy, so we were grateful for the extra layers. 

The kids with Grandma and Grandpa

The family (38 of us) came on our own time, so we only saw Scotty's parents and one sibling there. It wasn't exactly a traditional "family Christmas party," but it was still a fun substitute. And I was glad that there wasn't the expectation for us to all arrive together and stay together. It was hard enough just herding my family of six. 

The crowds were decent for a Saturday night at Thanksgiving Point. As always, I appreciate the COVID crowd control. There were waves of chaos now and then that got my anxiety soaring (my dislike of crowds is life-long and legit - this isn't a COVID thing), but then it would taper off. 

Scotty and I both acknowledged the beautiful milestone of not having to bring a stroller to this event. As we witnessed so many parents trying to navigate crowds with screaming children in strollers, our hearts went out to them. We are just barely on the other side of that (we still often deal with the screaming children part, but it has gotten a little better and a little less frequent now). 

It was really nice of Scotty's parents to give us this experience. We really enjoyed it. Now we can never go again because once we've been VIPs, it's too hard to go back to whatever we were before we were VIPs.