Just walking into the Magic Kingdom or any of the parks with holiday decorations up and you’ll be in the spirit. However to really create some magical memories, you simply must head over to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. This separate ticketed event runs on select nights in November and December and believe me, it is worth the price of admission.

First, you’re able to experience the Magic Kingdom with almost no crowds because it is a special event. You practically have the park to yourself until midnight! You also are able to enjoy complimentary hot cocoa and cookies at various locations throughout the Magic Kingdom. The characters are out in their holiday costumes and you’re able to get pictures of these rare sights. There are special holiday stage shows, like the one in the castle forecourt and the one in Tomorrowland.

In addition, you’ll get to see Holiday Wishes, the special holiday edition of the fireworks spectacular. Finally, there are two separate showings of the special holiday parade – Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmastime Parade. I actually missed seeing this parade at the party last year because I was running around to see attractions with my Walt Disney World Moms Panel training buddies. So I was surprised at how absolutely amazing this parade is. They’ve really added to it in recent years and it’s chock full of Christmas magic. The music is contagious, you’ll find yourself singing along in no time. As several of the elaborate floats sail by, you can smell the scents of the season: pine trees, cookies and more. I think my favorite part is the Wooden Soldiers marching by. I swear I don’t remember there being THAT many soldiers and they do even more to entertain as they pass by. Of course don’t forget Santa Claus will close out the parade with his famous face. It truly makes the night.

I’ve put together a slide-show of parade photos but really, it doesn’t begin to do Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party justice. It is an annual tradition for our family, hopefully you’ll make it one for yours too.

The Hall of Presidents in The Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square framed by Wishes fireworks. Happy Independence Day, America!

Photo ©Vanessa Guzan

Readers of ZannaLand may have noticed the not-so-subtle shift from Disney posts to more me/personal/generic posts. This happened both because I combined the MainStreet.Zannaland.com posts here and I really wanted to venture out into the world of Mom Blogs and hopefully get more involved with other bloggers, product reviews and blogging opportunities. I thought – “I can be a REAL blogging mom!” There was only one problem…I had no idea what to blog about.

I’m just not a gifted blogger like some of my friends. I can’t keep things short and sweet and interesting and share-worthy about me. Even as I wrote out my first “all about me” post I looked at it and thought, “Really?! Who is going to want to read this?” {ok, my mom wanted to} And lets be honest, being a successful blogger is often times about the numbers and no one is out there googling “What kind of childhood did Suzannah DiMarzio have?” The result was it was stressing me out. Big time.

I was emailing my blogging friends, desperately asking for help and advice…all the while writing up my life story while I waited for the “oh, here’s how you do it” replies. I’d hit send on my email and be embarrassed for myself, asking such stupid questions when I pretty much knew the answers. I just didn’t know how to come up with the content to keep people interested. I lay awake at night worrying about what the %#&! I was going to write about the next day. Blogging started to feel like a job. I knew something was wrong and it shouldn’t feel like that. I’m sure many people treat blogging like a job, and probably have the income to prove it, but that is not what I set out to do. I wanted to connect with others and share my experiences in hopes of helping others in some way – and make friends along the way. The crazy part was, I’d already done that. It was those connections that cheered me on when I was applying to the Walt Disney World Moms Panel. It was those connections that helped get my blog noticed and out there to begin with. In my eagerness to get to the next big thing, I forgot the big thing I already had.

Before I left for the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, I actually wanted to give up blogging. The stress was getting to me and I was doing it wrong. I figured I’d give myself till after the conference to decide, and hopefully learn something there that would help set me straight.

And I did. It just wasn’t the answer I thought I was looking for.

I will do recaps of the entire conference experience and the people I met, but this post had to come first. One of the speakers I was most looking forward to hearing was Chris Brogan. I had watched his keynote speech at IZEAFest and of course instantly liked him because he was from Boston. However, I worried that his speech really wouldn’t have anything to do with me. I wasn’t a business, I wasn’t even a successful mom blogger – how could his advice on social media business relationships help ME?

My biggest fear as a blogger was selling out. I didn’t want to become one of those blogs with 200 blinking ads on either side, only talking about the great product I just tried and leaving all my personality and stories on the other side of the screen. When I got up the courage to just introduce myself to Chris at breakfast on Thursday (yes, I said courage, for a shy fat girl with social anxiety, it was a big deal) he asked me, “What do you hope to get out of the speech tomorrow?” We were interrupted by a cast member that needed to whisk Chris away for an interview, but it gave me time to come up with an answer. I later tweeted him that I wanted to know how a new-ish blogger could successfully use social media without “selling out”. I figured he had over 100 other people telling him what they wanted to get out of his presentation as well, and just thought I’d sit back and enjoy his speech.

In absence of a white board, Cinderella Castle works for Chris Brogan

Chris is a smart, witty, engaging speaker. His subtle jokes are the same ones that run through my mind half the day and go over most people’s heads. He opens with the Zulu greeting “Sawubona” which means “I see you.” And he does. There was no person too ‘small’ that Chris didn’t see and connect with. He made sure of it. I will never forget his magic triangle describing Community, Content, and Spnsors, invisibly drawn on the Cinderella Castle backdrop behind him on the stage.

Then he spoke the simple words – “Never alienate your community.” I felt as if that phrase was branded onto my brain. Or rather, as if those words had finally opened my eyes. I had alienated my community, or was at the very least on the path to do so. I had created such a wonderful community of Disney fans and then said, “oh, well, now that you’re here lets talk about my laundry.” Clearly, I had made the wrong choice.

I mulled over that phrase again and again for the remainder of my time at the conference. I tweeted my friend that I was having a blogging identity crisis. I met amazing, wonderful mom bloggers that CAN tell people about their laundry or any other number of topics and get people to listen – and care. I simply am not one of those people. Maybe, in time {and with more time personally}, I could be but right now, it’s just not where I am in the blogging world. Kind of like a rock guitarist that gets a job with an orchestra. You know how to play the music, you know the notes, yet you are never really playing the right song.

Once I had that revelation and made the decision that followed, I was again excited about blogging. I was filled with ideas and new goals to reach. The stress was gone. Even though Chris Brogan stopped short of reenacting James Brown’s scene from The Blues Brothers, shouting “Do you see the light!?” and I stopped short of doing back flips in Grand Republic Ballroom A, I did see the light.

Even if sticking with my niche prevents me from working with certain companies or being open to some opportunities available to a more broad-content blog, that’s okay. If I have my community and my content, the rest will come. And if I make a really cool Xbox Controller Cake and want to share it with you, I will. If my kids do something funny or I have a craft to share, I will. But I will do my best to never alienate you again. {And I’ll just save my childhood stories for my book } I am a mom blogger. I’m a mom that blogs about Disney. And that’s okay.

So thank you, Chris. Sawubona. And I’m so grateful that I did.

More from #DisneySMMoms to come, don’t forget to link up your posts to the Disney Social Media Moms Recap Roundup!

*This post is now part of the Disney Blog Carnival, where you can find a great group of Disney articles!*

Ever since first hearing about the famous little Virginia and her letter in the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun, it’s become a part of my annual holiday heart string-pulling. I cling to it more closely this year, when my 9 year-old daughter is at the age where she questions the veracity of Jolly Old Saint Nick. It’s hard in this day and age to keep that particular bit of magic alive, in a time when commercials are touting “Christmas for less!” and blatantly showing parents relieved to get presents for their children at discount prices. “Why do you have to go shopping?” she asks smugly. “How does he get to every house in one night anyway??” and “People at school say he’s not real and there’s no such thing as Santa Claus.” Telling her I still believe doesn’t seem to work as well.

I don’t blame her, school is the place most rumors are either dispelled or born. Many families have other beliefs that directly contradict the celebration of Santa. Other families don’t believe in “lying” to their children at all. There is nothing wrong with those beliefs or practices of course, but as with all things, tolerance of differences is always a nice lesson that sometimes gets forgotten. It’s hard for children to understand that because something may be fact in your family, it may be fiction in others, and vice versa. I know I never doubted until people questioned it at school. I was about the same age too.

Oddly, I don’t remember ever questioning why all the presents came from Santa and not my mom and dad, or how they had a present all ready for me on Christmas Eve when our tradition was to open one present that night. I do distinctly remember going to my mom one year and asking her if Santa was real. “What do you think?” she asked me back. I told her I thought Santa was real a long time ago, but that maybe he died and parents eventually took over doing his job for him and all the Santas in the mall and everywhere were just Santa’s helpers too. She seemed to like that description. And that was that. If you want to get technical, the story of Saint Nicholas isn’t too far from that anyway!

The magic didn’t really dissipate too much, outside of losing a teeny bit of that excitement as you walk down the stairs to see that yes, Santa did indeed come to your house as you slept. However, to this day, presents from my mom are still a surprise. We were never a ‘presents under the tree’ family. Nothing appeared until Christmas morning, when a beautiful magical stack of presents was awaiting you. That still happened after my revelation, so Christmas was and still is an exciting moment full of wonder for me.

My oldest son is about to turn 11 and I think he’s inherited a bit of my sensitivity, because he has never once questioned or asked the existence of Santa. It’s as if he doesn’t want to disappoint me by letting me in on whatever he really thinks. Even at his young age, he has seen how excited I get by the little things; how walking into Magic Kingdom makes me cry, as do certain commercials and other heartfelt moments. I don’t ever want to get to the point where hearing the bell ring in The Polar Express doesn’t make me cry. I’m tearing up just thinking about these things! He gets how I work and doesn’t want to spoil any of that.

And now of course, we have little G and we all get to experience Christmas through his eyes, which I think is a very valuable lesson for his older brother and sister. Part of what keeps the magic of Christmas alive is finding the innocence and excitement that lives in others throughout the season. Religious discussions aside, the secular side of Christmas still provides countless opportunities to learn about giving, sharing and believing in something, even if you don’t spend a dime.

So now more than ever – when the “skepticism of a skeptical age” has increased at least ten-fold since 1897, the beautiful, eloquent response to little Virginia O’Hanlon matters even more and means even more. No matter what your reason for the season, faith, belief in unseen magic, wonder and goodwill is something we can all agree upon. Mr. Francis Pharcellus Church said it more articulately than I ever could - Yes, Virginia. Yes.

***

8 year-old Virginia O'Hanlon

“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.

“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.

“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’ “Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?

“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.

“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”

VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no VIRGINIAS. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies! You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas Eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if they did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

You may tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

Francis Pharcellus Church

Love the Island of Misfit Toys Verizon commercial. Poor iPhone!

Love the Tiny Mandolin Garmin commercial, ones with original lyrics to old classic songs are always funny.

I do NOT however, approve of the other Garmin commercial featuring the scary clown. Scary Clowns are not allowed at Christmas!!

I love this one from Target with Santa running:

I think because it shows that Santa can still book it if needed, he’s not too old or full of cookies and milk to get somewhere fast! I do not really enjoy Target’s other commercials this season – the Black Friday ones with that crazy lady that was up all night and super obsessed like Martha Stewart on crack or something was not funny to me. The ones with everyone saying things didn’t really cost that much aren’t really that funny to me either, although the one with the girl admitting all the bad things she did out of guilt is kind of amusing.

NOT a fan of “Talk to the Moose” aka “How Cute Are These Boots?!” from Gap Kids:

But it definitely gets stuck in your head, doesn’t it??

This is an oldie but a goodie, it makes Baby G stop whatever he’s doing and watch – like he did while I was finding the link to share!

And of course, I have to end with my favorite – It’s a Small World – the Disney Parks holiday commercial that will leave your heart bursting with holiday joy.

What are your favorites?

In addition, 1-800-flowers.com is  giving 10% of net proceeds from their Toys for Tots collection back to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Just pick an arrangement or gift from their exclusive collection and enter code TOYS at checkout.

Be sure to become a Facebook fan of 1-800-flowers.com for more news and great deals for the season!

Who are we to choose who takes the easy road while others take the hard? And who’s to say someone isn’t (and they usually are) suffering ten times more than you are right now? Why not us? Who would we rather push this hardship onto? No one that I know, certainly. Again, not to say what we are going through is so unbearable or even the worst struggle we’ve experienced, but this has been given to us and we will come through it stronger than ever. Why not us?

…

It’s pretty obvious what my blessings are this year, I could rattle off my husband and children and mom and of course the amazing friends I’ve made recently. I am thankful for those things each and every day. In addition, I’d like to add some other things that make me pause, take a deep breath, and smile – from the inside out.

• Kids that actually *fought* yesterday over who got to dust more things as we cleaned the house. I know a time will come when they will not be so willing to help out, and I cherish these days when they are.

• A tiny little person that reminds me every minute of what’s truly important in life and how blessed I am, no matter what.

• A husband who, at the end of the day, would do any and everything just to make me smile. Despite the every day stresses and trials, I do appreciate that fact and love him more each day.

• The leaf I looked out the front window and saw fall off the tree. It’s pretty rare that we stop and look at nature happening around us and it’s the one constant in this crazy, fast-paced world we live in. So I loved that I looked up right at that moment and gave thanks for the beautiful world we live in.

• Family and friends that seem to think I’m pretty cool and are willing to support me in any way. I’ve always had a problem accepting compliments or entertaining the thought that people might actually like me…so to get that confirmation almost daily lately…is pretty mindbogglingly amazing.

• Hope. Dreams. I wouldn’t be where I am without hope and dreams. I can’t imagine a world or my mind without them and hope the day never comes when I wake up without hope in my heart and a dream to try to make come true. ♥

Happy Thanksgiving.

(We’ll see what it looks like sliced tomorrow!! Wish me luck!)

The recipe is Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake and was the dessert I made when I cooked my first Thanksgiving, 12 years ago! (There were many cracks in it that year!)

And yes, I know this is yet another NON-Wordless Wednesday from me!

Thanksgiving Table Crafts

Inspired by some of my fellow bloggers as well as my favorite, Family Fun magazine, I thought I’d share my family’s top Turkey Day crafts! I have to admit, almost all of the crafts my children have done over the years are thanks to their amazing grandmother, my mom. She has an agenda when it comes to the holidays and always makes sure the kids get to create something new each year and feel like a big part of the festivities. I have come up with a few of my own over the years though, so this list combines both.

Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings

Personalized Turkey Cut-out Napkin Rings

This was one of my mom’s crafts last year. The kids just cut out card stock turkey shapes, rectangles to write everyone’s name on the front, then made rings out of the card stock, using cut cardboard tubes as reinforcement. They came out really cute and of course depending on the age and skill level of your artists, you could have some really unique turkeys! Another option we’ve done in the past is one I found instructions for on Family Fun – Turkey Napkin Rings from flat wooden craft spoons. I have another similar project using the craft spoons below.

Cornucopia Nut Cups

Cornucopia Nut Cups

This was another from last year. Growing up, my grandmother always had painted scallop shells filled with mixed nuts at everyone’s place setting for the holidays. I may or may not have gone around picking all the cashews out of those shells, as a child. (whistles innocently…) Anyway, while we don’t use the shells anymore, we do still enjoy having mixed nuts out for the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s holidays. My mom found this craft to make a fun, reusable decoration. The kids just drew out their own cornucopia pictures on the front of some construction paper. My daughter wanted to color hers in, while my son chose to leave his just plain (and really I was quite impressed with their creations!!) then they attached the paper to a ring using glue sticks, so they stood up on their own. Next she just put some mini cup cake liners in the ring and you fill them with nuts of your choice. You can then remove the liners and put new ones in for the next event. Of course you can fill them with whatever you like: candies, mints, anything! You could also make bigger rings to fit larger liners if you’d like the cups to hold more items.

Wooden Craft Spoon Turkeys

Wooden Spoon Turkeys

Another fun craft item to decorate your Thanksgiving table are these wooden craft spoon turkeys. Gather about 5 of the craft spoons and glue together with wood glue. Next glue another stick to act as the holder for the turkeys. Cut out felt for the head and the beak/waddle parts. Attach those parts and googly eyes with glue. We cut out pilgrim hats with construction paper and glued those on as well. You can then color in the ‘feathers’ any color you like with markers or even paint. The possibilities for creativity are endless! We just placed them around the table and on plates for decoration, but you could probably put them in tall cups full of nuts or candy, or even flower pots.

Pine Cone Turkey Place Cards

My mom made this one with the kids a few years back but unfortunately I do not have pictures of their creations, so I found a similar craft with instructions on Family Fun’s site.  We just added little cards with guest’s names on them to turn them into place cards for the table. These are especially fun to make because you get to go on a nature walk to collect the pine cones first!

Oreo Turkeys

I saw this on a baking group last year and had to make them. They are so simple to do, yet involved so the kids loved making them. For each turkey you make, you’ll need 2 Oreos, a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup, a Whopper, some candy corn, white frosting for ‘glue’ and yellow frosting/gel for the feet. You can also use some blue or other color frosting for the eyes.

Oreo Turkey - edible crafty fun!

Stand one Oreo up on top of a flat Oreo, and use some of the white frosting to attach them. Add 5 or 6 candy corn white part down, into the top Oreo’s filling to make the ‘feathers’ of the turkey. Be VERY careful with this because if you push too hard you will split open the Oreo. We went through quite a few, but no one complained. Cut the Reese’s mini cup in half, and attach with a bit of frosting so the cut part is facing down onto the Oreo. Attach the Whopper on top of the Reese’s cup as the head, with a bit more frosting. Next add 2 candy corns, with the white tips facing up, to the Reese’s cup, as wings – this is optional if you’d rather have a turkey without wings, it looks cute without too. Cut off the tip of another candy corn and attach with frosting to the Whopper as the beak. Next use the white frosting to make eyes, using a colored gel if you’d like for pupils. Use the yellow frosting for feet on the bottom Oreo. You can also get red frosting or gel to make a waddle, but we forgot that step last year! This year we might experiment with chocolate-filled Oreos, or maybe even save some Halloween orange-filled ones next year! The best part about this table decor is everyone gets to eat their creation!

Just re-made these for an appearance on iVillage.com so I thought I'd add the new photo!

Mr. Turkey-O!

Laminated Thanksgiving Artwork Place Mats

Our Thanksgiving Place Mats

A few years back a neighbor of mine invited a bunch of us over to have the kids create Thanksgiving place mats. The kids decorated large sheets of construction paper using markers, crayons, glitter and leaves they’d collected from outside. (Keep in mind we live in Florida, you can probably find much prettier leaves in the northern regions!) I may have helped a bit with some of the drawing. Then they colored their names in with stencils and the moms printed out Happy Thanksgiving with the year on them. Our neighbor then took them down to the local print shop and got them laminated for just a few dollars. This will be the 6th Thanksgiving that we’ve used these place mats, they are a treasured keepsake! I can’t wait till the baby is old enough to make his own place mat to add to the table.

…

I hope you try out some of our family’s Thanksgiving crafts, I know my children enjoy the traditions they created so much and love showing off their handi-work each year. So many of these can take on a personal twist and embellishments from your own family will make these one-of-a-kind decorations something to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

…Your cadaverous parlour, betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis.”

With these famous lines from one of Walt Disney’s greatest attractions, the Haunted Mansion, I thought I’d celebrate Halloween in ZannaLand by sharing some photos of our family during our visit to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at the Magic Kingdom. Don’t forget to check out my other Halloween posts showcasing the Headless Horseman ride, part one of the Boo to You Parade, part two featuring the Villains, and the Halloween Castle!

Our darling Cereal Killer, Coraline, my 'Scare-ista' costume, and Spider-Mickey!

This was the sign I made to go with my costume, hope some Disney fanatics get the references!

Spider-Mickey eating his ears...

My scary trio...

It's hard work being that cute!!

a blur of gravediggers (& the Malfoy family in the background!)

Then of course there is the trick-or-treating throughout the park. Various spots are set up in the different lands where kids and adults can collect candy treats together (there are non-candy alternatives available at each location as well). My favorite section is the walkway from Toontown to Tomorrowland, where characters from Alice in Wonderland are set up. During our first time at the party, they actually had an entire tea cup from the Mad Tea Cups ride FILLED with candy. The spooky-themed HalloWishes fireworks display is a spectacular end to the night, it really can’t be missed.

We didn’t make it last year, because I was 9 months pregnant and had our 3rd child on October 28, 2008. For that reason I was even more excited to attend this year. My original plan was for all of us to be different characters from Alice in Wonderland. A few years ago we saw an entire family dressed up as the Malfoys from the Harry Potter movies and I loved it. I don’t think that’s going to work out, time just snuck up on us, but maybe next year! My daughter has decided to be Coraline- her haircut makes it a perfect choice. I know it’s not a Disney character, but the director also did The Nightmare Before Christmas, and it’s unique enough that she probably won’t see 20 of herself there. I haven’t figured out the baby yet, but I will find something cute I’m sure. My problem is my ten year-old.

Last year with his longer hair, he was a PERFECT fit for playing Heath Ledger’s Joker from Batman. Once we got him all dressed and made up, he was less than thrilled about actually going out. So it’s no surprise that this year, while he’s excited to go to the party at the Magic Kingdom, he does NOT want to dress up. I decided to ask Twitter for some ideas on how to help, and thought I’d ask here as well. Of course I’m not going to *force* him to dress-up, but I’d like to win the challenge of finding something that actually excites him enough to want to wear. My friend Kristen on Twitter suggested an “I’m too cool to dress up” t-shirt, but I wonder if he thinks he’s too cool to wear an “I’m too cool” shirt?! Help me, friends of ZannaLand, you’re my only hope!