Christmas Scavenger hunt....

For Christmas this year, Mike and I decided to do something different. My kids have toys upon toys and clothes upon clothes...and truth be told, they were stripped of all of their toys earlier in the Fall because of poor attitudes...

So, with Christmas coming up we decided we didn't want to just give them a whole new batch of "things." A friend of mine, who had a baby a month after me, told me how they were going to Disney in February. After my initial "are you nuts? with a baby?" reaction, I realized taking them now would be a pretty good idea becuase once Micah starts walking, and wanting out of a stroller, it might be more challenging...that and Caleb is an "adult" by Disney standards after March.

And so, the idea was born for a Christmas morning scavenger hunt. (thanks to Lydia) And I will say that yes, they did get gifts under the tree, mostly from the Disney Store...but not quite like they are used to....and Elisa pointed that out when she came to get me Christmas morning...

"Good morning, Mommy, Merry Christmas. Our tree isn't very full this year, but at least my stocking is."

Mike is the one who came up with the scavenger hunt since I wasn't feeling so great Christmas Eve...and I am so glad he did because it was so much better than what I had in my mind...and the kids loved it...

Clue#1 :
(picture of Cinderella's castle)
A beautiful princess has a wonderful home.
Bekah, take your family to this castle in our house.

#2:
(pic. of map of Florida)

Way down south there is a state where Mommy grew up.
Elisa, take your family to a place in the house that has a map of this location

#3:
(pic of monorail)

You may get tired walking all day. It might help if you ride on a train.
Caleb, take your family to a place in the house that used to have a lot of trains.

#4:
(pic of glass slipper)

I sure wouldn't want to lose this shoe if I wanted to marry my prince.
Bekah, take your family to a place that would be a good place to keep shoes.


#5:
(pic of Pirates of Carribean)

We love to "ride" with Pirates of the Carribean.
Caleb, take your family to a film that was inspired by this idea.


#6:
(pic of Snow White)

I sure would like to eat breakfast with you, but you must be dressed right.
Elisa, take your family to a dress that would be suitable to wear to breakfast with Snow White.


#7:
(photo montage of Disney movies)
Lots of wonderful movies put out on the "big screen" over the years!
To figure out the reason for this hunt, politely find a seat in front of our "big screen"

At this point, Mike turned on our Disney planning dvd and we watched their faces. I am crying because I am so excited and they just watch the show...so we finally said, "Does anyone know what your gift is?" And they looked at one another and then us and finally Elisa said, "Are we going to Disney?!" (yes, they can be taught!) And then shreiking and screaming commenced!

I really think they were scared to ask for fear that was NOT what the gift was!
It made for a great morning for us and we actually ended up watching the whole dvd and got excited as a family for this trip, one month from today!