A Country Christmas

We headed to Nashville on Saturday for a few days to enjoy some shows and get in the Christmas spirit. Saturday night we headed to the Grand Ole Opry. I have been stressed out about Payton sitting through this show for a few months now. I told myself that I just needed to chill out. I have two words for anyone who needs a toddler to sit through something like this. RING. POP. That glorious candy bought us at least 45 minutes of silence. No, I'm not ashamed to admit that I bribed my child either. She really did very well until she got tired. The show starting at 7:00 combined with a five hour car ride that day was not the perfect combination. Overall, she did very well until the very end when she just couldn't stay awake and wanted a bed to lay down in. Of course, this was all about the time that Brad Paisely made a surprise appearance, but I was able to sneak in to see a few minutes. Jonathan and I made a deal before we left that he would take her out of the Rockettes, if I handled the Opry. He got a few good shots from our seats.




We were very bummed to find out that Opry Mills was still not open from the flooding last year. We did shop for a while around Bass Pro until Payton had finally had enough. She also got her picture taken with Santa there. Let's just say that mommy ended up in the picture also.


Monday night we went over the Opryland Hotel to see all of the decorations.


At this point, it was way past Payton's bedtime and she crawled under her stroller to rest for a minute.



The outside lights and nativity were absolutely beautiful. Tuesday morning we went over to ICE! The theme was Santa Clause is Coming to Town and everything in the building was ice sculptures. It was quite chilly, but very interesting. Payton kept saying "Payton touch ice" and then would pull her hand away when she realized how cold it was. Disclaimer: We did try to get our child to wear gloves but she kept pulling them off.










Tuesday night we saw the Radio City Christmas Spectacular with the Rockettes. It was amazing! Payton hardly moved at all for the first hour (no ring pop was even involved). Between the acts, Santa would could out and talk/sing so it kept her attention pretty well. The props and dancing were also amazing. She did very well during the show until the very end, when again, it was past her bedtime.


Jonathan had gotten up with her but brought her back in during the nativity scene at the end. It was beautiful, and Payton loved seeing the live animals. She kept saying "sheep says baaaa" along with "baby Jesus go night-night."

We had such a wonderful trip and are now paying the price of trying to get everything done before Christmas is here.