Behind the Scenes: the Disney Christmas Cruise aboard the Fantasy with Buckets 'N Boards part IV

CHRISTMAS DAY!!!!

this was my favorite day onboard.  there was such a happy lovely outgoing feeling that sort of was the essence of the day.  that morning, like all the others, i woke up way earlier than the rest of the Severs.  by the way, you can totally shut the daylight out of your room.  like if you have all the curtains shut, it will feel like the middle of the night at any time of day.  i learned that our first morning waking up.  i got up in what felt like the middle of the night, checked the clock and it was NINE AM!!!!  i thought the clock was broken  since it felt like 3am.  i was FREAKING out because i was not to miss a moment to soak up the ship.  and i had breakfast buffet to go to.  so from that day forth, i was determined not to let G hide the sun with those magical curtains.  (apparently that is how BnB can catch up on their sleep after performing late...or watching movies all night...or in G's case watching seasons of Make it or Break it...)

anyway, we woke up and saw what Santa brought us.  Lu: iPod Noii: Stompeez (that she did not take off the rest of the trip...not once)  we didn't make it to see Santa or Goofy Santa.  there was also a few church services for everyone that wanted to go to church. 

 we made it to breakfast and everyone was so nice.  the crew had an extra skip in their step and i wanted to hug all of them.  even the guy that was confused every time i asked for more powdered sugar for my french toast...warm butter and a ton of powdered sugar is my favorite thing about french toast.  what? you put maple syrup on your french toast???? i don't get it.  but i appreciate our differences. (yeck) every day that they had french toast i would only grab 2 pieces at a time (they were french loaf slices, not big) and i had to ask the guy guarding the powdered sugar for some more shakes of it...the same guy...every day that they had french toast.  he would just do a couple shakes and try to hand it back. i'd go "more please?"  one time a guy behind me said "i think she wants a bunch, like make it snow" yes, you got that right.  and the most awkward part is that i would have that scarfed down in a few seconds, so i would go get more french toast...and the powdered sugar request scene would happen identically every time.  why would i only grab 2 at a time when i know that i am capable of eating 6 slices of normal sized french toast?  well i wanted to make sure i had room on my plate for my daily pancake-whipped cream-strawberry sandwich.  so as you can see, a buffet for me is a very much planned out outing.  there are a lot of factors in play: how many plates, how many times back, what do i want to fill up on first, what do i want to get more of, what do i want the last item that i stuff into my face to be that is the last straw that i feel bad for eating because i was full after plate #2...that is an important one because that one sticks with you til lunch and even if it is your favorite thing, you might get a stomach ache and then it becomes your least favorite item...buffet eating is not for the weak of mind, heart and stomach. and its no joke.  no joke.

an example of going up for thirds, and wishing i hadn't, but will continue to do that forever as long as buffets exist.

where the heck was i??

we went to explore the ship.  the first thing i noticed about the ship when we boarded for the first time was the chairs.  i made little mental notes: i'm gonna need to sit in that chair. ohh that chair is fancy. that chair is amazing. etc.. the seating on the Fantasy is unreal.  and they aren't repeated throughout.  like the chairs and couches on deck 5 are only on deck 5.

i love that someone walking by asked if we wanted a picture because we were all sitting as a family on a couch!

no one ever really sits on these couches but the set up is so grand and quiet, especially on a day that most people disembarked (!) today we were docked in Costa Maya..the very place that had the world's nutjobs thinking the world was gonna end 4 days earlier.

deck 4 has a cluster of nightclubs.  these all are themed with european cities.

very cool! especially the seating.  am i the only one that focuses on seating? oh wait. am i...a nutjob?

the clubs were closed so we sorta partied in them..and sat in all the seats.

this is a different day but fits the sitting on seats theme 

 these clubs have some amazing bathrooms!

okay enough about seats.

when we got back from exploring, this was on our bed when we returned

later on, Lilli sang Christmas carols in a children's choir

so sweet

 that night was Christmas dinner night and it was dress up time again AND we were eating at Animator's Palate.  this place is the coolest place to eat by far. there are trinkets from all the Disney movies on the shelves and there are giant screens everywhere. 

this guy looked just like the guy from the show we watched called "buckets N boards"

its a tad awkward when your head is in front of one of the giant screens 

that night you drew a person on the placemat and that person is in a cartoon later and it is RAD!!

i have a video...but it is not uploading...

i had the yummyest dinner!

this little shrimp army is guarding a pile of valuable pesto gnocchi and sweet potatoes

after dinner we snapped some pictures

press on nails!

if you look closely you can literally see my cheekbones disappearing.  they are still missing. also note the snugeez!

we returned to find these outta this world chocolates

and of course the bunkbed was set up and all their little buddies were tucked in

and at the end of the day i was obsessing about how we were on our way to the last half of the cruise.  like, we had already gone through sat sun mon and tues.... our first vacation ever was half over...

up next....

PIRATE NIGHT!!!!