Christmas Countdown Day 17 - Day with Disney; Walt Disney

Ever since I can remember I was fascinated by Disney. From the Saturday morning Cartoons to the Sunday night Disney Movies and the theme parks, merchandise and even the games. As an adult this fascination hasn't stopped. It's evolved really. Don't get me wrong, any chance I get I will plug in (or rather now that Disney + is out, I tune in) to watch one of the classics or current specials and if I get a chance, head to Disneyland or Disney World.

The past couple days I've had a fair amount of driving to do and I'm not much into listening to music on the radio but rather like listening to an audiobook. Most of them are books like Rhonda Byrne - The Power, The Secret or I have a few biographies, etc.

I'd purchased a while back a book about Walt Disney. I try to feed my mind good things to focus on and stuff that will help me grow as a person. Well, one of my mentors had suggested a while back that I study successful people that I want to emulate. The things about them that I would like to add to my own personal character.

I've always been fascinated by Walt Disney's child like creativity and he is always talked about as a great leader, with flaws but he was great. He failed many times, he was bankrupt at least once, he was too trusting some said and ended up getting burned and yet he still had the audacity to dust himself off and ask himself, "Ok, now what?"

Thus I purchased this audio book titled, How to Be Like Walt - by Pat Williams.

It's funny, insightful and definitely gets me thinking.

In studying the great leaders, teachers, people in history and even those from our times, today, I see one thing they had in common... Imagination!

Walt said, "Every great leader is a dreamer, but not every dreamer is a great leader." That had me thinking... a lot.

Once I got home, I turned on the TV and hit the Disney + app and started watching The Imagineering Story. It's about Walt, his legacy and where Disney is going from here. About how people are working on filling his shoes and fulfilling his dreams as he would have wanted.

It's an amazing story and there is so much to learn from his life, including his faults to help me be a better person. I am so grateful that I grew up in a home where my parents never stopped me from dreaming, imagining and being creative. Now to just figure out how to get my mind to work like Walt's did.

It was a great day with Walt, between the listening to the audiobook, reading a book on him, watching and hearing his voice in the TV show, it definitely felt like I spent the day with Walt. And I really liked it.

Thank you Walt for being such a big Dreamer and Doer. You really knew how to get people to follow you, even after you're gone.

As Walt once said, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible." So that means I still have time to find my impossible and do it.

Christmas Countdown Day 16 - What Symbol Represents Christmas Holidays for You?

Everyone has that one special tradition that they look forward to every Christmas holiday, I'm sure. That one symbol that says Christmas is here. I love lights! Particularly the decorations and lights outside. Since I was a little girl, my parents would bundal us up and drive us to the streets that were Christmas ready, by following the Lights Map. As I got older, these special streets and homes and yes maps started disappearing. 

Now it's really hard to find them. I think that's why I loved being in Vegas and Disneyland last Christmas because of all the beautiful lights and decorations.

Well, today I happened to be in the post office mailing a couple last minute Christmas Cards and I found this...

 The staff said that it's a very busy little mail box. I think they need a bigger one. hee hee

While I was there, a gentleman in line said that if I liked decorations so much I needed to go to Silver Sage Winery because they had the best decorations in Oliver. Well, that was a challenge that I couldn't pass up! The Best? We will see...

 4PM and I was out the door before it got too dark to see my way...

The beginning of their driveway greeted me with this.

                                                                               

This path of giant lights intrigued me. I've never seen these before. They were cool! But what greeted me at the bottom, took my breath away.

 This place was magical for Oliver. I was grinning from ear to ear. The guy in the post office did not kid about this being the best in town.

As I walked around I felt like I was in my own version of Disneyland. This is what I love about Christmas holidays.                                                                           

 I got giddy when I saw the Disney Characters. It's like my Christmas wish came true today.

Even Cinderella's carriage!

 Santa's sleigh!

    This was so cute to see, Santa in his own gazebo.

And of course, I just had to check out the little village. They had beautiful glass decorations hanging in the windows. So pretty.

    

 Mickey down! Call Disney 911! 

    It's ok, I found him standing just around the corner... hee hee                                                                                                                                                              

                                             

Spectacular. I just loved the decorations here. I'm so glad I went. I had to go inside too, because it was so pretty outside, I thought what could they do with the inside.

 Yup, they really know how to decorate inside too. So pretty.

Carolers! This was so pretty...

 Well, after that fun experience, I was driving home and found a few other places that were done pretty too.

 The Town hall looked so pretty. And so did the park across from them.

 One of the fruitstands was decorated too.

 Yes, I have to say it was pretty fun today to see all these houses and businesses dressed up for Christmas. Thank you Oliver for showing me your lights.

Tell me what holiday symbol represents Christmas for you. I'd love to hear all of them.

Tea and reading time now. G'night my friends.

Christmas Countdown Day 15 - Perfect Gift From the Heart of Nature

After the good snowfall last night, I woke up to a winter wonderland. Coffee in hand, kitties outside to stretch their legs for a bit, then off for a walk along the path behind my place...

Yes, it sure is the perfect gift that I got today. The most amazing beautiful walk among the snow covered trees, listening to the birds chirping and river flowing over the rocks. I feel so blessed to live in this beautiful part of the country.

  Just a couple sample pictures that I took from my walk.

I would love to see if I can get these turned into Christmas Cards next year. What do you think?

                                                                                          

After my walk, I made my second attempt of my invention "Eggnog Loaf". 

Tidied up and read for a bit, dinner was simple and now for a Christmas Special and peppermint tea.

Today was the perfect gift from nature and I'm grateful to be able to share it with you.

Christmas Countdown Day 14 - Light up and Christmas party on the SS Sicamous

Quiet day until it wasn't...

 Headed to the SS Sicamous in Penticton today to watch the light up, have hot chocolate and listen to the carolers then sit with Santa and get our pictures taken.

It was such a fun time. The decorations and ambiance on the boat was magical.

 Sharing it with Melissa and her two kids just made it all the more fun.

The inside was decorated beautifully as was the outside.

 And I felt like I'd died and gone to heaven with all the most amazing miniatures set up everywhere!

 I love Christmas villages. Each one told a different story. It was so neat to look at them all...

Carolers where in costume and sounded amazing. I love hearing the voices in the old boat.

 

Even the tug was decorated.

                                   

 And what is a Christmas party without seeing Santa!

Lizzy had to hug every Christmas tree on the boat... hee hee

We went outside when it started getting a bit crowded... time to leave and head to Tim Horton's for a quiet visit and treats before heading home.

 

                                                                                                                                                                   

Yup, even the trees outside got hugs...

Connor had to check out the upper decks. He said everything was lit up, up there. Sadly, my knee couldn't handled the steep stairs... maybe next year I'll be able to do it.

We had to stop and check out the beautiful train set up before Timmy's...

                                                                                            Sure looked pretty outside of the boat.

When I'm driving anywhere, I tend to listen to  audiobooks, tonight I chose "How to Live like Walt Disney", written by Pat Williams. It was kind of fitting because the forward to the book was by a close friend of Walts and he said that Walt was a unique man. He looked at life through the eyes of wonder and his imagination was always working, even when he was doing a job that wasn't fun, like delivering newspapers, he always had his imagination to keep him company and fill his life with wonder and excitement. And to this end, this is how we should be like Walt Disney.

Spending time with the kids and exploring the boat lit up tonight was definitely a reminder to me to keep looking for the light, love and wonder in my life. No matter how simple the tasks are or how challenging life can be. Just keep my eyes and mind open to the magic all around me, that is life. 

                                                                                                                                                                   

                             

While listening to the audio on the ride home, I hit a wall of snow in Okanagan Falls. Literally a wall seem to just appear across the bridge near Tickleberry's. You could say the drive home was hairy from there on. We all had to slow down to drive about 20 KM/hr home... took roughly an hour because it was snowing so hard and heavy that we couldn't see where the road was from the lake, trees, cliff edge, fields or buildings. Everything was white. 

The whole time I'm driving I'm listening to the audio and kept thinking, "How can I find the magic in this? What wonder can I find in this? What would Walt Disney say about this?" Well, I didn't freak out driving and made it home safe and sound.

 As you can see from the flakes of snow on my hair and shoulder they weren't small... hee hee
Now that I'm home, it sure looks pretty outside.

Tim and I had dinner and now it's time for us to watch a movie. It was a great day and ended beautifully.

Good night everyone! Talk with you again tomorrow.