Thanksgiving at Disney

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Hello again one and all, sorry it's been such a long while!!

I can't believe it's December already...time is flying so fast! I have been here 2 months today and it only seems like a few weeks. Things are starting to get exciting now as the parks gear up for Christmas. Well, actually, they've had the Christmas decorations up in the Grand for about a month now, but that's America for you - getting into the spirit early!

Just after my last entry was Thanksgiving, and I was lucky enough to get enough days off in a row to go up to New Jersey to see my sister Stephanie, my brother-in-law Bill and my nieces Laura and Hilary. It was really nice to see them all again after such a long time - we didn't do very much except eat, watch movies and sleep, it was brilliant! On one day Justin - one of the boys I lived with when I was in Florida last year - came up from where he lives on the Jersey shore to come and see me. That was awesome, we hadn't seen each other for almost a year so we had a good long catch-up on how things were going. Justin is currently working on a chat show called the Maury Show which is filmed in New York City, so we watched a bit of that on TV. Very Jerry Springer-esque!!

When I came back to Orlando I was feeling very refreshed and ready to hit the Front Desk again. Whilst I was away the Grand Floridian lobby was transformed into a Christmas paradise, with a 40-foot Christmas tree in the middle, wreaths everywhere, and festive flowers in all the bowls. At first I hated the tree lights - they're the exact colour of a street light back home - but now I think they actually complement the colours of the lobby, so I approve. All the Christmas activities have started in the parks as well - I'm really looking forward to seeing the Candlelight Processional at EPCOT and of course the mental Spectacle of Dancing Lights at MGM Studios.

Christmas really started for me, though, on Tuesday, when me and some other College Programmers from the Grand went to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. We watched a show where the Fairy Godmother lit up the castle like Cinderella's sparkly slipper, the parade, and got lots of free hot chocolate and cookies!! Unfortunately, it poured with rain all evening, so the smoke from the fireworks blocked out the castle and the fireworks themselves which was very disappointing. But we kept ourselves entertained taking Hank's godson's friend, Flat Stanley (a cartoon character out here in the US) around to various parts of the Magic Kingdom to help with his school project.

This week coming up is very exciting for several reasons! First of all, on Friday I am doing my driving test to try and get my Florida driver's license. This is a full written and practical test (for some reason they won't just accept my UK license :o() so I am very nervous, as having driven for 6.5 years now it will be very embarrassing if I fail!! Then secondly, my friend Andy is coming to visit next Sunday for a whole week!! It'll be really fun to finally be show someone from home around where and work and all the cool stuff there is to do at Disney.

Well it is now work time for me, so I must run. More updates sooner next time, promise!!

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