Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, I'm okay that you're early

I love Christmas time.  

The problem however that I often encounter, is time management. With so many things to do, see, and make, it can become overwhelming trying to cram everything in to three and a half weeks and/or lamenting about all of the things I didn't get to do again this year because I just ran out of time.  

I know a lot of people are quite strict about and grumble over Christmas stuff being out before Thanksgiving, but I have finally waved the white flag of surrender and have embraced the advantage of adding in a couple of extra weeks of Christmas fun pre-Thanksgiving (still Christmas at Halloween I will agree is way too early).

On Saturday we went to Atlantic City to see Interstellar in IMAX after which we discussed wormholes (Scott impressed us with his wormhole knowledge) while eating food dipped in melty cheese and chocolate at The Melting Pot.

We couldn't remember ever visiting Atlantic City during the holiday season. The Tropicana looked nice decked out in its holiday finest even without the decorating being completely finished.

While we were walking on the Boardwalk we happened upon Boardwalk Hall’s Holiday Light Show.  It was interesting with clubby dancing music and a dreamy futuristic take on Christmas and the New Year. 

If you are in AC already it’s worth checking out, but not spectacular enough to plan a trip specifically to see it.

On Sunday we decided to take a pilgrimage to Kindy’s. 

Kindy’s is a giant Christmas warehouse in Philadelphia where, according to them, they “stack em’ deep and sell em’ cheap.” 

It’s pretty much what would happen if The Christmas Tree Shop and The Berlin Mart had a baby.  

It was fun, 

but just a little creepy.  

This seemed to be a place for hardcore Christmas decorators. The type of decorators that would make Aunt Bethany question if their house was on fire.  Our mission was to find new lights for our tree.  After ten Christmases we wanted something different.

I prefer strands of solid colors, especially white, while Shannon likes the muti-colored lights . We saw the perfect compromise at Kindy’s, lights that cycle between white and multi-color. Kindy’s was of course all out of the lights we fell in love with.  Sigh.

Have you wondered, I know I have, about where all of the animatronics from the G-Boys Christmas displays went?  Well ask no further because they are at Kindy’s.  

Seeing this made the trip worth it for me. When I was a kid it wasn’t Christmas until I saw an animatronic polar bear.  

I was so excited walking through the displays. 

There were kids walking around and even with all of their gadgets and gizmos aplenty, they seemed just as delighted as I was at an animatronic monkey driving a tractor.

My favorite display was the fanboy/fangirl mash up of Batman working with the Ninja Turtles to spread some holiday cheer in Gotham.  

Brilliant! 

Kindy’s also had a little miniature town display 

and Santa was there if you wanted to get a photo.

Frankenbear

It was fun, but like the AC Boardwalk light show, if you are already in the area stop by Kindy’s, but don’t go out of your way to go there unless you really love animatronic clowns.

I'm sure this is directly from one of my nightmares

Feeling sad about not being able to take home sweet color changing Christmas lights, we decided to drown our sorrows in pasta and meatballs at Villa di Roma. 

It’s the kind of place that reminds me of what it’s like to have dinner at an Italian Grandmother’s house.  We even witnessed one of the servers walking and rocking a customer’s baby around the dining room so the baby’s mother could enjoy her meal hands free.

Before heading home we took a brief walk around the Italian Market. Some people already started decking their places of business out in holiday splendor. 

I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving, but I was happy that we were able to sneak in a little Christmas fun a week early.

Raglan Road

After two days spent at Universal, our energy and patience were left depleted.  We decided to trade Harry Potter magic for some Disney magic so instead of eating dinner on Universal property, we headed to Downtown Disney for some grub.

We had no specific restaurant in mind. We figured we would just walk around and wait for a mood to strike.  As we approached Raglan Road comments flooded my mind.  I remember it being talked about favorably on The French Fry Diary, Make Mine Magic Podcast and The DISUnplugged Podcast.  With all of the recommendations, I figured it had to be pretty good, and after our more artistic dinner the night before, I felt like I could go for something comforting.

Raglan Road is an Irish restaurant.  There was a tiny bit of a wait so we wandered around the great Irish store attached to the restaurant, then hung out around the posted menu.  There were multiple times that we watched people walk up to the menu, read it, and then make some sort of comment about it being too challenging.  One woman in particular complained about the lack of pasta and grilled chicken on the menu.  I felt like the menu wasn’t challenging in the least (though I know our food tastes lean more to the adventurous side), and I felt bad for the people who walked away because they missed a wonderful treat.

Our server/cast member, Xiomara, was marvelous.  From the moment we sat down she made it seem like she was expecting us and was so happy to see us.  She swept in and placed a basket of brown bread with a sweet Guinness dipping sauce onto our table.  

The bread was good, but the dipping sauce was heavenly. We only had one piece each because the bread is dense and filling.

For our first course we had the Tomato Salad with balsamic and Parmesan crisps.  

It might look ordinary, but the tomatoes were so fresh it tasted like they had just been picked and the balsamic was high quality. There might have been a slight scuffle at our table over dividing up the Parmesan crisps.

For our entrées we both got the Guinness Beef Stew. I love that it came in little pots.

It was the best Guinness stew I have had thus far.  The meat was tender; the sauce was perfect. Not too much Guinness and just the right balance of smokey and tangy.  It was like a warm hug in my belly.

Not only is Raglan Road one of the more affordable sit down restaurants on Disney property, for the price of your meal you also get some top notch entertainment.  While we were eating a band named Drops of Green played Irish music.  The band alternated with a group of Irish dancers who performed traditional jigs.  

It was a relaxing, entertaining, and yummy night. With our stomachs filled with comforting goodness we were ready to catch some zzzzzs so we would be well rested for all of the  rebel smuggling to come. 

It's like a Craft Show but Fancy

This Saturday we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Contemporary Craft Show. 

It's like a craft show but fancy.

There were lots of traditional art exhibits like this.

Items made from bottle caps

And there was this.

One guy had cool musical instruments. He seemed like he was having a fun time showing them off.

There were things to eat off of and drink from.

Tea pots

We admired things to spice up our decor.

Look at the two handsome gentlemen in the mirror

Coffee Table

I really, really wanted a Steampunk Squid lamp for my nightstand.

We liked this exhibit called Two Apples on a Bench.

Just kidding. It was actually just two apples sitting on a bench.  We couldn't figure out why.

Thanks to my newly awakened fascination with fashion design, I especially enjoyed the fashion exhibits.

Unfortunately I couldn't afford so much as a scarf.

What I could afford was a beautiful glass Christmas ornament, or two. We couldn't decide between blue or clear iridescent.

The Contemporary Craft Show offered some top notch people watching.  It looked as if many folks put a lot of thought into what they were wearing to the fancy artsy craft show. The top three favorites were The Vandersmiths (not their real name). They were an older couple who were dressed exactly alike. I cannot stress the exactly part enough. They were darling.  Mikhail (not his real name) had blonde hair that stuck straight up. He had on a vougish coat and shoes that had such high heals that they would surely cause my demise if I wore them.  Last but not least was crazy jacket guy.  He wore a suit type jacket that looked like it was hand painted by a modern art student.

All that people watching and admiring art was hard work, so we decided to treat ourselves to food and hot chocolate from Max Brenner's.

I couldn't find a sandwich that I wanted that came with the fries, and I wanted the fries, so I ordered the chicken satay appetizer and an entire order of fries.

Food is more fun when it comes on sticks.

The chicken satay was yummy. The orange bbq sauce and peanut sauce made the meal.  I was also happy because it was light, and at Max Brenner's, you want to make sure you leave room for the back end of the meal.

The fries at Max Brenner's are waffle fries sprinkled with chili and cocoa powder.  They are delicious. The chili powder makes them a touch spicy and the cocoa powder gives them a slight smokiness. I couldn't figure out what the dipping sauce was made of.

Of course the main reason to dine at Max Brenner's is the chocolate in both liquid and solid forms.

My favorite is the Melting Marshmallow hot chocolate.

My cousin tried the Swiss Whipped. I loved how it was hot, but came in a glass with a metal straw. I may have to try it next time.

Least you think this is just Swiss Miss in fancy cups, I assure you it is not.  If Agent Dale Cooper was drinking it, he would probably exclaim that it is a damn fine cup of hot chocolate.

We also got dessert.  I got one of my most favorite restaurant desserts to date.  The Peanut Butter Euphoria sundae.  It is comprised of chocolate peanut butter ice cream, bananas, chocolate crunchy balls, and separate bowls of chocolate and peanut butter sauce. If you want to know, yes, yes I did use that entire bowl of peanut butter.

Shannon got the Chocolate Cherry Waffles.

My cousin and her husband shared the S'mores sundae.

After savoring our desserts, we decided to walk them off a bit before heading home.  In one store I found one more ornament for the tree. It may not be fancy artsy, but it will make me smile every time I look at it.