The day started out at the early hour of 4:30 am in Midland, Texas. It has become a tradition to walk the dogs before we go out of town as it helps ease Pam's guilt of leaving her four fuzzy friends behind as the rest of the fambam sets out for fun and adventure in a faraway land called Florida.
Pam came up with the idea of going to Disney for Christmas break four years back. With the day upon us, we loaded up the girls and headed to the airport to set out and see why Rigo calls it the most magical place on earth.
We blew through security at the Midland airport and found Dallas Love virtually dead for Christmas travel. Pam was delighted to see the line to Dickeys BBQ empty as she ran to the counter to order her favorite breakfast of brisket and egg tacos smothered in spicy bbq sauce. I followed suit while the girls opted for much healthier options of wraps and fruit.
Pam and I laughed at the girls as they have much to learn about the difference of healthy eating when you are at home and indulging in the finner junk foods when you are on vacation. Pam gave her usual 4.8 slices of brisket out of five for Dickey's while the girls came in at 2.4 for their choice of living longer lives free from heart disease.
It was soon time to line up for our flight to Orlando. Pam and I checked us in the day before, and AK got A60 while Pam, Little D and myself got B1, B2 & B3. The thing about Southwest is they allow family boarding in between the A group and B group. Usually, this is not a big deal, but going to Orlando means everyone under the sun with kids gets on before the B group. AK secured a spot for her and one other person. Pam being one to think quick on her feet told Little D she would be babysitting AK in the back of the plane while we found a couple of seats further up.
Once again I beamed with pride as Pam gave us two luxurious hours of complete kid freedom and let the row in between us create a child-free buffer! Southwest says they don't have a first-class option. But I beg to differ; you just have to travel with Pam.
It turns out that most of the free world came up with the same idea Pam had four years ago to visit the land of Mickey. The Orlando airport was mobbed with kids crying and stressed out parents making threats of Santa not showing up if they did not straighten up. We grabbed our bags, got the rental car and were at our hotel in no time. As usual, our Hilton property did not disappoint with excellent accommodations and a large apartment for the stay.
Pam decided that we would run to the store to get some groceries while the girls stayed behind. It turns out that grocery store shopping on Christmas Eve in Orlando is as bad as of an idea as it is in Midland, Texas.
After wishing the good folks at the store a merry Christmas with a few elbows into our ribs, some banged shins from too many carts in the aisle and lots of colorful language being thrown around by people in the holiday spirit. We bagged our essentials items and headed back to the hotel to get ready for Christmas Eve Mass.
With Pam being a traditionalist we headed to midnight Mass except it was 8:00 at night. I have very few roles when it comes to travel as Pam is the supreme ruler of the fambam and makes all the critical decisions for a good reason. She did however, ask me to find a church close to our accommodations. Like most technical hip people, I googled Catholic churches. Several came up, and I opted for the one called St.Nicholas Catholic church since it was Christmas it felt like the place to be.
Upon our arrival, something seemed a tad different from what we are used to seeing for Mass. When church started, AK turned to me and with a strange look and asked if we were at a Catholic Church. I replied yes, as technically we were. It just happened to be a Byzantine Catholic Church rather than a Roman Catholic Church. The two are somewhat different in their rituals of the Mass as we soon discovered.
Needless to say, we had quite the experience but still enjoyed the Mass. After church, we kept another tradition alive as we arrived at Waffle House for our late night Christmas eve meal. We feasted on the usual dinner delicacies and enjoyed the time together as we mapped out the plan for Day 2 as the fambam takes on Epcot!
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