An Olde Time Christmas (Part 1)

We have Silver Dollar City season passes, which means we usually make the journey to Branson, Missouri 5-6 times a year, to use these passes.  Caeden absolutely loves every single trip, and so do we!  Every Christmas, SDC has a special festival called "An Olde Time Christmas!"  They decorate their park with 5 million lights, put on special Christmas shows, turn their train ride into a Sing-Along train, have a visit from Santa, continue to have all their normal rides & shops going, have a 5 story Christmas tree with 250,000 lights that is coordinated to music, and they have a light-up Christmas parade in the evening.  It is one of our most favorite Christmas traditions!

Well last year, after battling 23,000 other people to enjoy the "olde time Christmas," we vowed we would never go on a Saturday in December again!!  That meant a visit in November for 2013! (You can read about last year's un-enjoyable trip here)!  So, this past weekend, Reid & I, with the kids and Nonni loaded up the van to experience an "olde time christmas" in November!  It was the best decision we ever made!  I have never seen the park with that few of people there!  It was awesome!

Walking to the gates...

Once we arrived, we started off with some rides...

This is Callie's first amusement park ride!

13 mos old!

 Nonni & Callie riding together

 Some selfies  :)

While riding rides, we saw an elf walking around!  We went to say "hi" and after a few minutes of talking, she took out two special jingle bells and gave them to Caeden & Callie.  Caeden absolutely loved this!  He's convinced it's a bell from Santa's sleigh!  And we were told he wanted to leave it out "all year for all the holidays"...not just for Christmas!  Here's Callie showing us her bell!

 After the rides, we went to board the Sing-Along Steam Train!

Then it was time for Geyser Gulch....the huge ball pit that Caeden loves!...

...followed by a "Frosty" show!

Caeden & Callie also got to sit on Santa's lap...Caeden was super excited about this!  Callie had no idea who was holding her....but never cried!

I love how Callie is staring at him here... 

And before we left, we HAD to stop for some "fuddle" cakes (as Caeden calls them), some apple dumplings, and some wassail!

And of course....some family pictures!

We had a great Olde Time Christmas, but will be back in about a month with the other half of the family - hopefully we'll get to stay for some nighttime lights this time!!