Desert Dreaming: 11/09/10

For the last eight years, me and my family make our annual Christmas shopping trip to the Mall at Millenia in Orlando, less than two hours from our home. We get up early in the morning, go out to breakfast and arrive just after the mall opens. My husband will drop me and my daughter off, and he goes Bass Pro and every golf store in the Orlando area. Then we will meet up for a very late lunch, and finish shopping at the mall together. I cannot begin to say enough about the Mall at Millenia, it has everything, my daughter and I spend about five hours there and love every minute of our time together. The holiday decorations are spectacular and it's just a warm beautiful enviornment for holiday shopping. After shopping, we will go to International Drive and then head to Downtown Disney for all the beautiful decorations that only Disney can do. Though my daughter is now 24, she still loves to go to the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner, not so much for the food as it is just fun and a great place to unwind after a long day of shopping. She feels like a little girl again and for that short time, I do too. After dinner, we will go to Ghirardelli's for a hot chocolate, and stock up on all kinds of chocolate....can we say YUMMY!!! We will then walk around listen to all the Christmas music and just enjoy the rest of the evening. And on our trip home, we just spend that quiet time talking about the day and how God has really blessed us in so many ways, especially to have each other. I'm getting so excited, we are leaving in just a couple of weeks, just hope it is cold out, like it was last year!