An Old Time Christmas Tradition

My family has this sort of holiday tradition. We all load up into the car and Go to Silver Dollar City for their Old Time Christmas Festival. For those who don't know Silver Dollar City is an amusement park with an old west theme. This park is in Branson, Mo. about two hours north of my home town, Fayettenam.

Branson in itself is interesting. The best way to describe it is by calling it a Redneck Hillbilly version of Las Vegas, only with less gambling and casinos. There are theaters everywhere with acts ranging from the Russian comedian Yakov to Willie Nelson and all the way back east to the Zhejiengs Acrobatic Monks. A true hodge podge of entertainment.

Anyways, the festival at Silver Dollar City is Quite a site. There are over 4 million Christmas lights blanketing the modernized Old West vista. Arts and crafts to the right, arts and crafts to the left, arts and crafts in fr....well you get the point. This is a great place for the Family to visit because it has little something for everyone from roller coasters for you thrill seekers (which due to the below freezing weather are often closed until summer), Southern foods (which we obviously love in the south), country music acts (including blue grass)...oh and did I mention that there were arts and crafts? The music and crafts keep your motion sickness proned relatives busy while you seek out the much anticipated adrenaline rush from the rides.

During Christmas there a holiday themed stage shows such a A Dickens Christmas Carol (which has been slightly altered to include material from such movies as "Scrooged" and children's books like "How the Grinch Stole Christmas), a living nativity show that holds true to the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus Christ, and a saloon show featuring lame jokes, that you can't help but laugh at, and three ditsy... ...well "Saloon Girls" (if you catch my drift...no they are just actresses).

This year we felt was special because my baby niece is finally old enough to really appreciate the lights and shows (she was enthralled by Dickens Christmas Carol and in the saloon referred to the girls as princesses...it was cute). She really enjoyed the parade of lights, she told everyone that Santa Claus (who was in the parade) specifically said "Hi" to her. All in all it's a great family tradition, one that I look forward to every year. Did I mention that they have a Ten story Christmas tree? Well, they do and it's pretty freaking cool kids. Merry Christmas, and keep your family traditions alive. They are the glue that binds your family together. If you don't have any, don't you think it's about time to start one?