Christmastime is Here

December 20, 2019

 

Christmastime is Here

Once my mother Marta was stable and I was comfortable that she would be heading to the next step of her recovery from her heart issues and the stroke she suffered, I was clear to head back home to arrive in time for Kathy’s birthday and the Christmas holiday, a couple of joyous occasions that would be a welcome change from the stress and worry that the past few weeks had wrought.

 

It is a pretty decent drive from Winston-Salem to Key West and takes the better part of two days of driving. To break things up and also because there was a gift that I wanted to get for Kathy, I decided to make a couple of short stops along the way that were both fun, in very different ways.

The first stop was in Orlando at Epcot. I was there last month while in town for a convention and at the time I saw a beautiful Mikimoto pearl necklace that I wanted to get Kathy. At the time I saw it, on display in the Japanese department store that is included in the Japan pavilion at Epcot, I didn’t pull the trigger and I had it in the back of my mind that I should have ever since.

 

Now circumstances had me passing pretty close to Epcot and since I had purchased an annual pass, I was able to go back and visit the park again with no real issues. Kathy has been so amazing and wonderful in helping us out with my mother, I really wanted to get her something a little extra special, so I headed to Epcot to find the gift I had seen last month.

  

Wow what a difference a month makes, Epcot, which last month had been hosting their annual Food and Wime Festival had been transformed and was in full holiday mode. I would normally tend to avoid Disney during the crazy holiday season as we prefer to visit when there are not so many crowds everywhere. It has been a number of years since I visited during the height of the holiday season.

 

It was packed, as expected, but since I was only there for a quick visit and was not really interested in the rides and attractions, I was able to really enjoy just wandering around taking in the holiday spirit and not worry about the massive lines for everything. It really was beautiful, Disney really knows how to do the holidays up right and the park felt beautiful and magical in spite of the throngs of people.

 

I made my way over and found the necklace and purchased it and did a little additional holiday shopping, then walked around taking in the holiday decorations for a bit before hitting the road again and heading south. My next stop was a totally different but still pretty interesting holiday experience when I opted at the last minute to stop at Santa’s Enchanted Forest in Miami as I passed by the mass of Christmas lights just off the turnpike.

 

As classy and perfect as Epcot is, Santa’s Enchanted Forest is about the opposite. The long running family attraction focused on Christmas is tacky and more like a cheap carnival or county fair with all sorts of crazy carnival rides and games, side shows and carny food consisting of corn dogs, elephant ears and fried foods. It is a slice of Americana that certainly would not appeal to many, but I find somehow interesting in spite of its tacky nature.

There are many Christmas themed displays that range from amusing, to quaint to just godawful. The coolest part though are the massive trees all light up with Christmas lights. It is really impressive and something that draws me to want to visit each year, even though I know I won’t really enjoy most of the attractions and rides. It is a crazy place and one that I would suggest only to true holiday light fanatics or fans of county fairs and carnivals.