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Published: December 12th 2023
So much to celebrate and enjoy during this festive season. In this blog, you will see us celebrating at CELEBRATION (the town that Disney built but does not own anymore), indulging ourselves at a Thanksgiving dinner, enjoying all the friends and places here at Tropical Palms and around, partaking in a glorious Golf Cart Parade…..and much more. Sit back and relax…this may take a while. YAWN!
The Town of Celebration is just a hop, skip, and jump from our park. Every Christmas, they decorate their Main Street like a Winter Wonderland. There is an enormous Christmas tree and a skating rink. In the evening, it even snows (soapflakes)! Hey, it's Florida! The entire town looks beautiful as so many residents highly decorate their homes…..some actually hire professional decorators to turn their properties into a beautiful Christmas setting. Every Sunday, Celebration has a Farmer’s Market. This is where we come in! Cory, Sandy and I were out cruising around and ended up at their market. Many vendors were selling their specialty wares. It was fun walking and looking at it all. Their decorations put us in the spirit of the season. 🎶🎶Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells🎶🎶
Back at the ranch (our
park), Thanksgiving dinner was prepared and enjoyed by many park residents getting together. Everyone brought a dish to pass as we were on our own this year. In the past, Tropical Palms would provide the turkey but it wasn't to be this time. Being a close-knit and caring group, three of the folks cooked and brought turkey so we could have a real Thanksgiving meal. Hooray….it was a wonderful day! The banquet of delicious food was bountiful. We are all so thankful for all the friends here who care about one another on holidays and every day.
One thing not on the Thanksgiving menu was alligator! Not because they aren't close by….. it's because we can't feed them AND they can’t feed us!! We have several small alligators living in the pond on our grounds. Actually, there is also a big boy besides these small guys….but I didn't get his picture. We aren't quite like “Gatorland” but it's fun to watch the few who live here. See You Later, Alligator….
Christmas decorations are showing up at various RVs, cottages and buildings here on the ranch. Lulu wasn't to be left out so she put on her Santa hat……she
has only her head to dress up (we all know why). She was so thrilled when our friends, Jon & Linda and their granddaughter, came by for a visit. Lulu wasted no time getting in Jon’s arm for a memory photo. We miss them not being here on a regular basis. Lulu’s “little eye spied” our neighbor, Mary, outside in her chair. ZOOM…..she shot over to Mary and had another memory photo taken. Mary, Mary Christmas!
Wonderful friendships have been made here at our winter homestead. This is why we all come back to this park….like the Swallows returning to Capistrano. We appreciated going to lunch at Cheddars with friends one afternoon. The food was great but the camaraderie even better. Our tent continues to brings friends together for coffee, treats and fellowship. The tent has no door but the flap is always open to anyone who wants to come in and sit awhile.
Cory has been busy putting up our Christmas decorations. He hung snappy lights from our picnic table umbrella and throughout our tent. 🎶🎶Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la. Tis the season to be jolly,
Fa la la la la, la la la la.🎶🎶 I've been working on decorating the inside front of our RV…..you’ll see that splendor in our next blog. One couple put up a delightful Christmas display on a corner lot for everyone to enjoy. 🎶🎶It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!🎶🎶
On our way to see a Christmas Display at the Florida Mall, Cory, Sandy and I first made a ritual stop at Bar Harbor to partake in our ritual lobster feast. Oh, it is to die for! Sandy and I both get two, Maine lobsters to crack and rip apart…..and then savor every bite. Ooooooooo. It is a dream come true!! Are you drooling? We sure did in between bites. And Cory’s dream came true this day. One of their lunch specials was fried grouper….. his favorite of all time. He did his happy dance while devouring all of it. It was like Thanksgiving No.2….we were so thankful for every bite.
I had seen an advertisement for a fascinating Christmas Display at the Florida Mall presented by the Crayola store. Cory, Sandy and I looked forward to this experience. After walking a good trek through the mall,
we found the Crayola store. We raced in seeking this gorgeous exhibition. Where is it?? Our eyes darted quickly in every direction. We searched the entire store…..nothing but crayons…..crayons galore! Finally, I found a clerk and inquired as to where was the display. Upstairs, she said….$28 per person. Are you kidding? Nothing in the ad said this!! False advertising. We could drive through Celebration and see just as much. What a rip-off. We left!! It was like The Grinch Stole Christmas! We did see where Santa Claus welcomed the children……that was a happy place. Forget about Christmas for a moment…….our eyes were drawn to another store. It was the Fish-Foot store. Not food….FOOT! Yep! Folks place their bare feet into a foot bath tank and allow tiny, hungry fish eat on their dead foot skin and whatever else might be on their feet!! Oh, God. They said it tickles. We did not choose to partake in this foot fetish….my photos are of other daredevils. A concern was “How do they sanitize the water between customers?” Certainly, they didn't remove all these fish to cleanse the tank.…that would have been too stressful on the little swimmers. We watched as the customer
removed her socks and the clerk sprayed some solution on her feet and then washed them down. There was no cleaning between the toes…..so much for toe jam!! And what about foot sores or fungus? Please do not buy us a Christmas gift card for this procedure. Walmart….yes, but not the Fish-Foot store!
We like to try out new eateries as you know. Fortunately, for us, there is constant construction always going on around us. Most are for condos and apartments but many are for restaurants, etc. On 192, across from Margaritaville, is a big, new restaurant called the Lazy Dog. Cory, Sandy and I went there for lunch. It's beautiful on the inside. You have to see it for yourself. They have a lunch special for $10.49. You select either soup (big bowl) or salad (huge!), a 1/2 sandwich (meat is piled thick) and French fries (very tasty). It was excellent! Just be careful with your drink.….a glass of soda pop was $4.00! I drink water. They had a big menu….as with everything, prices weren't cheap but this lunch special was a good deal for the money. We will go back!
Now for the “pièce de résistance.”
Every year, around this time, a neighboring RV park has their residents decorate their golf carts to the hilt to do a Christmas parade through Old Town. One of our park members decided it would be fun if our folks would decorate our golf carts and “crash” their parade. We have always loved seeing these fabulously decorated carts so we park our cart up on the grass in front of Red Lobster. Here we can see and applaud their superb efforts in transforming their golf carts into wonderful Christmas glitz. This year, many other TP revelers joined us to witness this amazing procession. Once they passed, we all pulled in behind them and joined their awesome parade. We even had a police escort. The crowds at Old Town cheered and waved as we all passed by. It was like being in a parade of the Royals. It was an incredible sight to see. We all felt like movie stars on the red carpet! Of course, Lulu was present: front and center. She wasn't about to miss being in this spotlight…..that’s her glory land: being the center of attention. She borrowed some stuffed Santa legs to add to her Merry appearance.
She almost felt like a whole woman…..well, almost but not quite. Our evening was not without a serious tragedy, however. A terrible thing happened on our way to the viewing location. Lulu was sitting with Sandy in the backseat of our golf cart. They were enjoying each other's company. Gearshift Guenter whipped around a corner with our cart and all we heard was hysterical screams from Sandy. Oh, God….what has happened?? Sandy screeched “Stop! Stop! She fell off!” I looked back to see Lulu’s head rolling down the road! Yikes! Cory squealed to an abrupt stop…..Sandy instantly jumped off, and with me running behind her, raced to save Lulu. Traffic was heading towards all of us. I was able to grab Lulu by her hair and whisk her into my arms before she was squashed by oncoming cars. We were all in shock. It was so upsetting. Mike pulled up on his golf cart to see if we were okay. I thoroughly examined Lulu and decided she would be okay….otherwise we would have had a medical helicopter come to expedite her to the nearest trauma hospital. Also, had it been necessary, I was prepared to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her……no
way to do cardiac compressions (you know why). Hallelujah….it wasn't needed. Sandy kept her close as we continued along on our venture. She could hear quiet whimpering coming from Limp Lulu but knew she would survive this traumatic event. But would the rest of us? We are still hyperventilating. Fortunately, the frivolity and zaniness of the golf cart parade clouded our stressed and uneasy minds. “Fun In The Old Town” this night was definitely the appropriate theme. Lulu will appreciate receiving Get Well cards, however. She needs to know she is cared about and loved….. especially during this horrific moment she experienced. We are so grateful she survived to see another day.
Okay. This completes this blog. Most of it was Cheery and Merry, as it should be. The near-death experience for Lulu was certainly unsettling but had a good ending: a true Christmas miracle. Enjoy this wonderful holiday season. There are 27 photos for your pleasure…..scroll way down and also go to a second page to see them all.
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DeAnne Mckay
non-member comment
tis the season
Merry Christmas you guys! happy New Year!