The Tippett Family: Mistletoe Magic and Ice

On Saturday, we went on our first holiday family outing. If you have never heard or been to the Gaylord Texan Resort at Christmas time, you have to go. If you aren't in the Christmas spirit, you will be by the time you leave! I had heard about the ice exhibit that they have had for 5 years now. It sounded amazing. Then, to make it even more fun, Grandpa and Grandma Tippett and Aunt Amy decided to come down and join us for the "Christmas Extravaganza". It was a really long day, and Sutton was SO good.

So are you wondering what makes these Christmas decorations so special...well, here is just a little description of what they had. When you walk into the lobby area of the hotel, it is all a VERY high glass ceiling, and it looks like a "miniature" Riverwalk in San Antonio. There are 1.2 million lights everywhere and hanging from the ceiling. Christmas trees everywhere with a 50 foot tree in the middle and 7 foot tall ornaments hanging from the ceiling. A life size gingerbread house, Mrs. Claus and live reindeer, Santa Clause, etc, etc!!! Then to top it off, an unbelievable ICE! show. They carve all sorts of things from 2 million pounds of ice. The whole area is kept at 9 degrees, so everyone gets a parka that you can wear while you are walking through. They even have an ice slide that Amy and I slid down.

One of THE most important things we did, was let Sutton meet Santa Clause for the first time. Santa was supposed to be there all evening, but he was on a 2 hour break when we got there, and wouldn't be back until 8pm. We were all so tired, but I really wanted to do the whole Santa thing. So everyone was very nice, and waited around with me. I went and sat in line from about 7:10 on, and as a a result, was the first in the line!!! Sutton was an angel in Santa's lap, and Santa said he was the best baby all day....well are we surprised?

I can vouch for Sutton, Santa, he has been REALLY good this year!