Festivus ~ we may be crazy!

Thank you for thinking, "no, you guys aren't ugly. . .you just have REALLY poor choice in clothing" haha
I have told you before, we have a family tradition of Festivus. (click here to read the description. . .as you MAY not understand some of these pictures if you don't know Festivus!). As you may remember, this year we kicked it up a notch by adding another Festivus Rule to follow. This year, everyone had to dress in their tackiest, ugliest Christmasy clothes they could find. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Festivus was celebrated this year at DISNEY! yes, a public place in UGLY clothes! We decided to spend our gift money on donations to charities and just spend the day together. With so many friends and family working at Disney, we were able to get all 19 of us in for free. The bonus is that Disney employees get park-hopper passes when they get you in so we were able to do 2 parks. We started the day at Animal Kingdom. . .but, before I get into the stories. . I'm thinking you just care about seeing how ugly we looked! So, without further ado. . .may I present to you, my family!

First of all, my parents and grandparents. . .all of whom will most definitely be taking it even farther next year! Though, do notice how ugly my mom's sweater is. .bright green with leapord print santas. Yes, mine matches hers. .I just took it a little farther! I will say that Granny's shirt was pretty tacky with that light up happy face though!

Next, my Aunt Shannon, Uncle Barry and crew. Shannon must have spent HOURS on hers. Check out the details! I also love how Michell can sport a woman's vest like none other. J's bells that were sewn into his ugly sweater rang all day long! We all agreed, however, that Allie just looks too cute in everything she wears and she better be "uglying" it up next year!Next there is the ever famous Brittani. She outdid herself, as we knew she would! She handmade these shirts. . .even poking holes in them and stringing battery operated lights through them! Too funny and quite ugly. . but homemade enough that people thought she was serious for sure! haha






Oh wait, did you guys want to see us? We'll start with our family picture. . .aren't we adorable?


















Next, my happy husband. haha, he's joking. He loves being the jokester of the party. Someone actually asked him directions. He said, "i'm sorry, I don't work here" They looked at him incredulously and said, "really? You just dressed like that?" hehe
I'm sorry. . .did you want to get a closer look at those awesome leggings?

Our backs were also decorated. . .the kids had ugly light up shirts on, but they didn't feel tacky enough. . .so we added some garland. Brayden's says, "Dear Festivus, I love you"


Davis' says: "Festivus '08" made all the more tacky by the fact that his garland F came off before we entered the first park!

Gracie's says, "I (heart) Festivus"
I had to emblish mine a bit as well. I added the garland around the sleeves because. . well, I had to pull in the gold somehow. I wouldn't want to look mismatched! I also sewed this lovely number on the backThis was one of those days when you MUST travel as a pack! Anytime you are alone you are wondering how to explain to complete strangers (without them even asking) WHY exactly you are dressed like this! The best part was the people who told us how cute we were. Someone actually said to Shannon and I, "Wow, you guys must really love your cats. You look so cute today" seriously? come on!

We had a great day at Animal Kingdom. . .going on a safari (our favorite! Brayden knows every African animals name!) and eating, of course. When we stopped to eat and get a family picture we even drew the attention of Disney's "Dream Squad" who LOVED our outfits and our crazy family. They even offered us a special surprise. VIP seating area just for us to watch the Christmas Parade! Literally, the entire bridge to Africa (for those of you who have been to Animal Kingdom) was roped off for us! Here we are enjoying our awesome parade spot. This also proved to be the perfect time to whip out the lemon juice to celebrate the bitterness of life! We even had the Disney employees participating! The kids did way better this year too. . and really got into it.






After that, we headed to Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM) to see the Osborn lights. . .well, everyone else saw the lights. Greg and I stayed back with Mat, Brittani, Anna, Gracie and Davis for a special surprise. Mat has an employee at work who also works at Snow White. She arranged a special meet and greet for our girls to meet the princesses. We had no idea what she was planning. . but oh my!!! All of these princesses were waiting for our girls! They were LOVING this. What a special treat. Gracie had full on conversations with Belle, Snow White and Jasmine about their outifts!

Even Mickey made an appearance. Check out Gracie's sweet expression in this picture!


Oh yeah. . ps: don't go hang out with princesses when you look like trash! Guess who in this picture is NOT a princess? ding, ding. . it's the girl in the gold PANTS! Not so good for the self image, I must say! haha


What a great day. We have a crazy fun family and we absolutely LOVE being together! Here are a couple of other random shots from the day. . . .


PS Davis' hat is actually the arms to Brennan's shirt!
We aren't THAT crazy. . .well, except maybe this one:

ho, ho, ho. . .see ya from Festivus next year! (this is the back of Mat's shirt. . he did this part all by himself!)
PS Please comment on anyone or anything in this post. . I'll be forwarding comments to these crazy folks! They love a good laugh. . .and will do almost anything if other people think it's funny!