Christmas Eve at Dolphin Bay

Somehow I have managed to get an amazing out of work done today, so I'm rewarding myself by spending time doing less-than-important things. I had dinner made before 10 am this morning--I love the crock pot!--I've started dinner for tomorrow night, I've planned my lessons and written my rubrics for next week, and graded and entered the assignments I had...it must be about time for bed, right?

Christmas Eve was the big day at the resort. We had to make reservations for our table, and they had spent the last several days decorating and setting up for a big dinner in the evening.

As it turned out, Cade never really recovered from this nap he took in the afternoon. We quickly discovered, even without a thermometer, that he had a temperature and I headed to the little store at the resort to find some ibuprofen (or fever syrup as it turned out).

The kid was in bed for the night by about 5:30, I think. Obviously he wasn't going to dinner.

Gretchen offered to give up her evening and stay behind with him, which was really sweet. Eventually everyone took their turn...well, everyone except for me. Guilty Mom Award. Again.

Dinner was a buffet of all types of imported favorites: turkey, gravy, dressing, mashed potatoes, vegetables, even cranberry sauce. It was pretty good!

After dinner began, a group of students from a nearby school came to sing Christmas carols. It was really sweet! It was difficult to understand, but it sounded pretty good for a bunch of Thai students that had probably only heard the songs in order to learn them!

Kennedy enjoyed listening to the carolers. While they were singing, Dad headed back to the room. We assumed that he since he had already brought Gretchen a plate of food, that he was probably going back to hang out with her for awhile. We headed back to the table to finish eating after the carolers were done.

Soon, we heard the announcement that Santa was on his way. Eric took Kennedy up to watch while Travis and I sat and chatted. Not long after, we heard the "ho, ho, ho" of Santa's arrival. Travis and I joked for a second about how it kind of sounded like Dad. It seemed so unlikely, that we sat back and continued to eat.

It wasn't long before he actually started talking, though. Now we knew it was Dad. There was no mistaking it this time. So, we jumped out of our chairs to go and watch...and try to get a picture!

Travis headed back to the room, so that Gretchen could see Dad play his part. She told us that they had just asked him that morning...apparently, after keeping their eyes out for a good candidate for Santa all week. I'm sure the decision wasn't too difficult since Dad was one of the few grandpas with young grandkids there.

Needless to say, Kennedy figured it out immediately, and she was very excited that her grandpa was Santa Claus!

As it turned out, the room where Dad changed was right above our room, so he was able to sneak in to see Cade in bed before he changed out of the suit. Even in his fever-induced state, Cade still said, "That's not Santa. That's Grandpa!" It made for a special Christmas Eve for these little kids!