Tales of the Flowers: Getting into the Christmas Spirit

How do you get into the Christmas Spirit? This December, we've had plenty of ways to help us get into the holiday mood!

Why not start out with Peppermint Milkshakes from Chick-fil-A! You can even get a Chocolate Peppermint Milkshake which is better!

Jacob had a special surprise waiting for us as soon as we got back from Thanksgiving. Advent Calendars!

For the kids, they each got something special. A slime advent calendar for Alli and a Pokemon calendar for Ian!

Plus a hot sauce calendar for Theresa and I, and 2 chocolate calendars for the family!

25 days of unique hot sauces!

Perfect to try in our chili tonight!

Last year, one of our nearby Chick-fil-As celebrated with 12 days of Chick-mas and they're doing it again this year! Except last year was such a success that instead of $25 each box, it's now gone up to $35 per box.

Twelve different gifts.

It wasn't as good of a deal as last year. Last year there were 8 food cards including 3 meals. This year it's just 6 food cards with 2 of them being meals. That, combined with the higher cost, means we won't be giving these out as gifts to others this year. The value just wasn't there.

Where else has special holiday treats? Trader Joe's! Already they have one of our favorite cheddars. Now it comes in a spreadable form! Plus other tasty treats like Jingle Jangle chocolate treats.

And a giant Danish Kringle!

And did you know they even have Egg Nog yogurt?

It certainly looks the right color.

And the taste? Not bad. It's got a good Egg Nog flavor, though that tangy Greek yogurt does come through. I was also hoping for it to be a little more thick. Wishing for more like a pudding texture, but this was quite soupy.

We got out for a bike ride to see our friend Henry. Along the way we saw some Christmas Critters we don't typically see. An armadillo and an otter!

And there's new baby goats at Henry's farm too!

On the ride back, we saw the tiniest tortoise we've ever seen!

It's time to start decorating the RV, but the kids said they could take care of that for us. They'd hide away in their room for hours at a time and come out with something unique.

We needed a Christmas tree. Alli made us one all by herself!

And Ian said he was going for the Charlie Brown style tree. Love the 3D ornaments. Great job both of you on the trees.

Ian also made a wreath for our door.

Christmas Lights? Alli can do paper Christmas lights. Ian made some too, but I must have missed the picture. I'll have to add it when we get back home from our travels.

Ornaments appeared anywhere they could be hung in the RV.

Very nice drawing Ian.

Love the creativity.

Speaking of creativity, while I was out for a run in the city of Winter Garden, I came across quite a few festive sights. We'll have to come back here again when it's dark!

Cookies? Sure Alli, we can make cookies. Or more accurately, you can make cookies!

We love gingerbread. Alli wanted to make the chewy kind instead of the snaps. We can do that! And rolling them in sugar before baking will be perfect!

One of many times we're making Grandma's Spiced Tea for the holidays. It makes the place smell wonderful.

Next batch going in.

And the first batch is coming out.

They were so good!

Our gymnastics has parent's night out, so Theresa and I got an evening to ourselves. We decided to go to downtown Clermont where they had a cookie and cocoa stroll.

Free cookies and hot chocolate were being handed out by many of the local businesses.

And a peppermint stick too. Delicious!

The kids wanted to make their own holiday gifts for Theresa and I, so they made a 12 days of Christmas for us.

On the 3rd day of Christmas my two kids gave to me... a snowflake and a Christmas tree.... (star)!

Ian - Can we give presents to all the coaches at our gymnastics?

How many are there?

Ian (after going to count all the stockings) - A little over 60!

Wow! Um, sure. I guess we'll be stuffing bags like we'd normally do for Disney. During their next class, they put holiday treats into everyone stocking.

It wouldn't be the holidays without Christmas music. It's been playing in our car for a while now whenever we drive somewhere. We all like hearing live music played, but Theresa especially gets into it for the holidays. She found that the Orlando Philharmonic has three different concerts they play, and best of all, it's free!

We arrived at the park 90 minutes before showtime. We were only the 3rd group there (this photo is well after that) and the organizers gave us a free blanket with their logo for arriving early!

It's Florida chilly (high 50s).

We certainly weren't lacking in snacks. There's 4 different kinds of gingerbread!

Go for it!

Looks like a good program tonight!

It was all good. I love hearing and especially seeing live music played. You can see the passion that people play with, versus just hearing the notes.

My favorites for the night were the Christmas from the Movies, which included music from The Polar Express, The Grinch, Home Alone, and even The Nightmare Before Christmas!

And of course the sing-along at the end. Awesome!

Ian - We found some snow!

Great find Theresa!

It was a pretty small and intimate event. Definitely wanting to come back to see it again next year. We went up to the stage afterwards and thanked any of the members of the orchestra we saw for bringing us such a magical night.

And we got to say hi to Brandon Martin, the vocalist tonight. And guess what! We've heard him before singing Christmas songs!

Because he's also part of the Voices of Liberty at Epcot! Just last year when we were "Getting into the Christmas Spirit" we got our picture with him after hearing him there.

I told you I'd get the family back to Winter Garden! They've got such beautiful decorations up for the holidays. It's always pretty here, but they've gone above and beyond for Christmas.

In addition to the sparkly trees that are lit up year round, they've added archways and decorated the bushes.

Beautiful displays.

And even a horse-drawn carriage to carry you around the area while you enjoy the lights? Wow! And this was just on a Monday night. Not even a weekend!