Christmas at the Opry

I mentioned in an earlier post that I was feeling very grinchish a few weeks ago. I was really having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit. I mentioned to Barry that I felt that we needed to make a "Christmas Road Trip": The Christmas Place in Gatlinburg (the ULTIMATE Christmas store!), then on to Nashville to visit the Opryland Hotel. He laughed off my suggestion, then surprised me a few days later and asked me if this weekend would be a good one for us to go! I of course said it would be and started planning!! I thought the trip from Gatlinburg to Nashville wouldn't be too long, but I was shocked when I saw that it was almost 4 hours! So, not wanting to spend the entire day in the car, I decided to just head to Nashville... spend some time at the Opry Mills Mall, then head over to the hotel at dark. We headed out around noon yesterday (which gave us time to sleep in, too!), and as we travelled further north we were surprised to see this:


SNOW!!!

We were so excited... even though there wasn't much of it, and we couldn't get out and play in it, it was fun to see.

Traffic around the mall and hotel was awful!! It took us probably 45 minutes to get through it all and finally find a parking space. But, thankfully, everyone stayed positive about it. Opry Mills Mall is HUGE! And it was packed, too. We walked through the mall, and went in several stores. Barry is not a shopper, and he HATES crowds, but through it all he was a trooper! Around 4:00 everyone was starving and tired. The lines at the food court were huge, so Barry had the fun idea of taking the kids to a movie; we could grab some snacks and sit and rest for a while. So, we headed to the theater in the mall and went to see Bolt! It was so cute, and it was just what everyone needed! We actually got in to be seated just as the earlier showing was ending, so we were able to get great seats. When the cleaning crew turned the lights on, I grabbed a quick picture of the kids:


After the movie we walked over to the hotel. When Barry and I lived in Nashville we went to the hotel every year to see the lights. We always went on a week night, which is probably the best time to go, because last night it was packed!! We haven't been in years, and they have made lots of changes since we were there last. We were completely lost, and a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of it! We were a bit disappointed as well... it just wasn't as we remembered it. The outside was brightly lit (every tree covered in lights) and the nativity was beautiful, but a lot of the inside attractions that we remembered are now behind closed doors, and you have to pay to see them. They were even charging for a "self-guided" tour. Oh well, what we did see was fun, and festive. We got home around 10:30 last night, and everyone quickly fell into bed and was fast asleep in no time... myself included! I plan on making the weekend complete by going to the concert at the Christmas Festival at the Stake Center tonight. That is always one of the highlights of the season for me.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from last night:


This is the front of the hotel


Trees outside


A couple of the nativity


The one Christmas tree we saw inside... and it was HUGE!


A few of the kids inside the hotel