ashley's christmas present

Last year we decided to go to Universal Studios/Harry Potter world for Christmas instead of buying presents. We liked it so much, we decided to do something special for each child again this year.

Ashley loves the arts, so we decided to buy her tickets to the Hale Center Theater. It is a small theater in the round with some spectacular special effects. We took the family to A Christmas Carol.

We must not go too many fancy places because the kids walked in and said, "This is NICE!"

 We got a picture with scrooge. For some reason the kids wouldn't stop for a picture with the creepy ghosts who visited scrooge.

 We were so hungry afterwards we went next door to a Korean BBQ and tried lots of things the kids had never tasted before. The beef was amazing.

 The kids were brave and pretty much tried everything, including kimchee and tofu. It was a fun change from burgers and fries or pizza.

We haven't gone to Ethan's or Josh's present, but Ethan (and the family) will go to a cool tubing place where we get towed up a mountain and then tube down. And Josh (and the family) gets a 3 month pool pass. If we like it enough, we might change it into a year pass.

It's nice to make memories as a family instead of collecting junk we don't need. Luckily grandma sent a few presents they got to unwrap on Christmas morning, and of course, Santa still left a bunch of junk in and around their stockings :)