Hip Hip Hooray for Christmas Vacation

♪ Jing-a-ling-a-ling-a-ling-ling ♪

My Christmas dreams came true!

I've always wanted to trade in gifts for an experience. 

This year it HAPPENED! 

In October I asked the kids to make a Christmas list.

Not one item on their lists were needed, practical, or even somewhat useful. 
In fact, they didn't know what to put down!

I think Rusty had put a mouse pad??

That gave me a good chuckle. 
 They were basically making up stuff so they had something on paper to turn in. 

The thought of buying anything just for the purpose of them
having something to open on Christmas morning made me want to hurl!

I snapped.

I pitched the idea to go on vacation instead of gifts.
But, everyone had to be in agreement. 

All 4 instantly shouted NO.

The more I talked it over with them, 3 had changed their tune.

1 remained indignant.

Lindi had weepy eyes the rest of the night with the thought of no presents. 

I get it. I would have been upset at her age if my parents said no gifts!
And totally sad to miss out on family togetherness that day with grandparents and cousins.

But we would still be able to go to Christmas parties with them beforehand., and the week after.

And we only would have had 1 hour with each family that day due to church. 

It was just a different kind of year. 

The other kids worked on her.

She said she would be willing IF we could bring our stockings.

Of course!!

Now I needed to figure out where to go!

The big obvious places were out of the question.

NYC and Hawaii sure like to jack up their prices during the holidays.

I googled: best places for families to vacation during Christmas.

Branson Missouri popped up as #1 multiple times.

I have heard of Branson, but always considered it a Summer destination.

Annnd where the old folks go, haha. 

I knew it was known for their performing shows. 

The internet claimed Branson transforms into a winter wonderland!
It is known as Americas Christmas Tree City because there are more than 1,000 

Christmas trees on display throughout the town.

 Holiday spirit and magic for lasting memories.
Basically a real life Hallmark movie!

I checked flights and sure enough we could get our whole family there

for a really great price!

We left December 21st in the weee hours of the morning. 
Flying Allegiant during the holidays had me nervous.

And there was a massive storm rolling in the mid west.

We got on the plane without a hitch, or delays!
Deep sigh of relief!

I couldn't believe how easy peasy that flight was.

We blinked and it felt like we were landing already!

We grabbed our Turo truck.
Small airport = walk outside and it was basically right in front of you in the

parking lot. Again, so easy and convenient. 

Branson does not have an airport.

Well, it does but flights are outrageous. 

The trick is to fly into Springfield, about an hour outside of Branson and drive in.

I had heard that Springfield had some fun things.
One of them being Lambert's Cafe!

I thought we would get there before the lunch rush.
Not so much, it was packed!

I learned they have a heavy line all day long, it is so popular!

They had it down to an art.
 What I thought for sure would be an hour wait was only
15 minutes at best. 

We got seated and were trying to learn the ropes of this place.

We were greeted by our waiter who took our drink order.

Then this gal (who looked like Alison)
showed up with a bowl asking if we would like some fried okra.

We were confused but said SURE!

She dumped them on a paper towel in the middle of the table then kept moving along. 

I died at the mugs!!

All the drinks are served in what resembled the first insulated pop 
thermoses from Circle K and QT!

She then explained that everything on the menu comes with 

"pass around" sides.

Hence, the fried okra!
There were 5 pass arounds that would circulate often.

And the best part, the "throwed rolls"
They were huge! and warm right out of the oven.

You can kind of see the waiter in a red bow tie throwing one mid air. 

It was fun!

My meal served in a skillet.

I would hate being the dishwasher!

I was also told to go see the original and biggest Bass Pro shop right there in Springfield.
It even had an aquarium and a resort attached to it. 

It was fun seeing it decorated for Christmas. 

It had a replica of the Ozarks.
And I thought Arizona's water features were big!

So many things around every corner. 

Even Santa!

Later we learned that Dude Perfect had filmed one of our favorite segments

at that Bass Pro!

The one where they had a pumpkin carving competition. 

We got ice cream at Braum's Ice cream and Dairy store. 

I guess the early morning flight caught up to everyone as we drove to Branson.

We had tickets to a show at the Sight and Sounds theater once we got there.

Already seeing the big Christmas trees!

This theater only has shows that feature Biblical stories. 

It started with Joseph and Mary of Nazareth during their trials they go

through leading up to the birth of Jesus. 

Zechariah and Elizabeth and their story is also a big part of the show.

The stage is huge, plus have stages on both sides of the theater.

Live animals were also a fun surprise!

Never have seen horses inside a play before.

Pictures weren't allowed, but I had to sneak a couple!!

The kids LOVED it.

I was worried Della would get bored.

She was captivated the whole time.

It was the PERFECT way to start our trip and focus on the true meaning of Christmas. 

Before heading to our cabin, we checked out a drive-thru light display
at Shepherd of the Hills.

We arrived to our cabin!

It was 20 minutes outside of Branson.

I wanted to have a more rustic Christmas-y feel type of a place.

It sure hit the spot!

The kids all fit in one room with their own bathroom. 

The master.

The decorations were the perfect touch!

It couldn't have felt more hygge. 

They wasted no time turning on a Christmas movie and snuggled up by the fire. 

 I was starting to get cancelation notices on my phone.

The big storm had finally caught up to Missouri and they were

expecting lots of snow the next day.

Businesses were worried workers would get snowed in, so they were closing

for the day just to make sure.

It normally doesn't snow in Branson.

This was a doozy of a storm I guess and nobody was prepared for it. 

Luckily I had already pre-ordered groceries to be delivered to our cabin that night.

We grabbed extra pizza for dinner to hold us over the next day in case we couldn't get out and all the

restaurants were shut down!

I wasn't worried since we were well stocked with food and water. 

The next day would be interesting!