Our Family Christmas! Merry Christmas To You!

By the time you get this Christmas will be a thing of the past. Since it’s New Year’s Eve, Christmas will most likely be last year by the time you are reading this. I did not want the holiday season to pass by without wishing you all a Merry Christmas! It’s been a long month of celebrating around here. Actually for Emily and Mommy Christmas started back in November with our first Mommy and Me trip to Disney and Gaylord Palms! It was a great start of the holiday season. I also learned a BIG lesson!!! On our trip Emily went to see Santa at Gaylord Palms. Because it was only November and before Thanksgiving I did not purchase the Santa and Me pic of her and Santa. I thought there would be a million photo opps between Six Flags and Great Wolf Lodge and Hershey! Little did I know that she would come down with pneumonia and all of our December plans would be cancelled. Lesson: When you have the chance to buy something, do it! You may not get another chance. So sadly, this is the first year we have no Santa pic but at least she was able to see him and tell him her Christmas wishes. I hope most of them came true!

It has been fifteen years since the last time I visited Disney at Christmas, long before Emily was born. It was just as magical as when I was there the last time and so precious to see the excitement through her eyes. The castle at Magic Kingdom that Elsa ices over is just beyond magical! Epcot was done up and we did sample a few of the holiday foods including the Three Kings Bread and lunch at Italy! Hollywood Studios was filled with snow showers and the Jingle Jam as well as the Tower of Terror Show! We even dined with all the characters in their holiday outfits including Santa Goofy! Emily and Mommy had matching Santa Goofy sweaters that we picked up at Epcot! What a getaway! 

Thank goodness that Emily recovered in time to return to school and be part of the Christmas Band and Concert! Adam finished his first semester at college and pop- It was Christmas! We had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and broke Opyatak with each other as we wished each other luck and love for the upcoming year. Santa left a ton of gifts! Top choices were My Little Pony and Olaf’s Frozen Adventure for Emily, Anything Stranger Things for Adam and Batman comics and legos for Louie! As for me I got my very first Pandora bracelet! I was SO happy! I have seen the bracelets a million times but never really cared. But on the plane on the flight home from Disney the stewardess was wearing a gorgeous Disney Pandora bracelet and charms. Right then I was thinking- Wow, I never realized how nice Pandora was before this! 

Christmas morning arrived in the blink of an eye and we all celebrated. I was especially happy this Christmas NOT to have a broken foot. I vowed to not sweat the little stuff after being laid up the year before. There was cookie baking and Christmas foods galore cooking! There was even a cheesecake which Emily helped me to bake and for the first time, it did not crack down the middle! Christmas was good and there was no drama. It was just our family and my dad and we all enjoyed the day together laughing, telling stories, eating and playing games! It was one of our better Christmases, but it did go by way too fast! 

As an added bonus we were able to keep our kitty Sugar out of the Christmas tree! Of course we did have a water bottle close at hand just in case but for the most part he was happy to hang out under the tree and push the lowest tier ornaments back and forth with his nose! We did get him the cutest little red and black checkered cat/dog bed at PetSmart for our living room. It was picture perfect but he only slept in it a few times! He was happier to be under the tree!

So, I hope that you and your family and friends had a wonderful Christmas! I am glad that I opened myself up for happiness this year. Since it was my mom’s tenth Christmas in heaven maybe it was time for me to finally just let myself enjoy the holidays. As for next year, who knows!? How was your Christmas? Did you have a favorite gift or was just being in the moment your gift to yourself? Merry Christmas!

Disclosure: Diane Sullivan is the author of 3decades3kids.net. Please contact me for collabs at 3decades3kids@gmail.com or @3decades3kids across all social media platforms. This is a personal post about our December Christmas holiday. 

 

Netflix Is Now Streaming DreamWorks Trollhunters 2

Calling all Trollhunters fans! Our family is majorly pumped about Trollhunters 2 on Netflix now! Trollhunters is something our family streamed together. It was quite addictive. As you may already know I have always watched TV WITH my kids. It’s just a habit I have gotten into as a teacher. I like to see what they are and were watching. My youngest is a tween now so it’s not so much a thing as it was when the three of them were little but I still enjoy just hanging out and bonding over new and old shows. When my daughter found Trollhunters she grabbed her older brothers and insisted they watch it with her. She was right, they loved it. In fact hubby and I took a look, too and we all just ended up watching Season one together. We had our bets in that there definitely would be a season two and sure enough there is and we binged it as soon as it hit Netflix! Popcorn in hand the Trollhunters 2 took over our living room television for about three days. There are quite a few new episodes so that was good news. As much as I love to just get binging, I do love when we can break it out over a few days! Have you ever heard about Trollhunters? Have you watched it? It’s definitely worth a watch!

In Part 2 of the epic saga DreamWorks Trollhunters, ordinary teen-turned-Trollhunter Jim Lake Jr. faces new challenges in his continued battle to protect his hometown of Arcadia and the fantastical Troll world he inherited. Jim’s risky decision to enter the Darklands unearths startling discoveries, forcing him and his friends to face gripping consequences as they race to end the battle against evil. This global family viewing event from acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro will bring viewers of all ages together, only on Netflix! You can also ring in the New Year with a Trollhunters New Year’s Eve Countdown! Check it out here:http://3decades3kids.net/CountdownPart 2 features new voices Mark Hamill, Lena Headey and David Bradley, who join Kelsey Grammer in his Emmy-winning role as Blinky, Steven Yeun (Steve), Anjelica Huston (Queen Ursurna), Jonathan Hyde (Strickler), Amy Landecker (Barbara) and Charlie Saxton (Toby). The late Anton Yelchin, who completed recording through Part 2, voices the lead role of Jim Lake, Jr. The Netflix original series premiered on Dec 23, 2016, with the first-ever 26-episode debut, which lead the Creative Arts Daytime Emmys with six wins, more than any other program, including writing for an animated program (Marc   Guggenheim), directing (Rodrigo Blaas, del Toro), casting (Ania O’Hare, Mary Hildalgo) and a voice acting win for Grammer. DreamWorks Trollhunters is created and executive produced by del Toro with Marc Guggenheim (Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow), Rodrigo Blaas (Alma) and Chad Hammes (Dragons: Race to the Edge) and Christina Steinberg (Rise of the Guardians) serving as executive producers. Dan Hageman (The Lego Movie, Ninjago) and Kevin Hageman (The Lego Movie, Ninjago) serve as co-executive producers.

Disclosure: Diane Sullivan/3decades3kids is a Netflix Stream Team member. We love to share all things Netflix and keep you up to date on the latest Netflix news along with our favorite Netflix Streaming Binges!! Contact us for collabs at 3decades3kids@gmail.com and @3decades3kids across all social media platforms. 

 

Celebrate Your New Year’s Eve Countdown Anytime With Your Favorite Characters and Netflix!

Okay, so technically the New Year’s Eve countdown begins ten seconds before the strike of midnight on December 31st every year, but with Netflix you can have your countdown when ever you would like! It’s great for families that want to the get the ball rolling a little bit earlier and get the kids to sleep way before the midnight hour strikes! It’s also a fun way to celebrate with your little ones before they hit “Stage Crazy” from being up too late. So bring on the apple cider bubbly, the cheese and crackers and let’s party, Netflix style!

All you have to do is log onto Netflix and search New Year’s Eve Countdown. A bunch of different selections will pop up and you can choose your favorite! You can watch the ball drop and celebrate New Year’s whenever and however your family wants. With on-demand countdowns featuring your family’s favorite characters from nine different shows, you can get the kids to bed early so you can pop the bubbly and enjoy the rest of evening (aka: one of the best parenting hacks of the year).

 

And another reason to celebrate – Netflix is making it easier than ever to find the Countdowns on the service. For the first time, a celebratory “2018” icon will be added to the Kids row to provide quick access to all nine videos, or simply search “New Year’s Eve Countdown” or “Countdowns” within the search function.

The full list of Countdowns that will be available through Jan. 31st includes: Trollhunters, All Hail King Julien, Skylanders Academy, Puffin Rock, Word Party, Beat Bugs, and new appearances from Pororo, Larva, and True and the Rainbow Kingdom. Happy New Year from 3decades3kids and Netflix! Have a wonderful countdown this New Year’s Eve!

Disclosure: Diane Sullivan/3decades3kids is a Netflix Stream Team member. We love to share all things Netflix and keep you up to date on the latest Netflix news along with our favorite Netflix Streaming Binges!! Contact us for collabs at 3decades3kids@gmail.com and @3decades3kids across all social media platforms.