Going to Centerparcs Winter Wonderland in 12 days. Stupidly excited!

[PavlovtheCat]

Honestly I am! I have heard such mixed reports about it and honestly I am not worried but very happy to be going away with my family for 5 days.

There are going to be sparkly twinkly christmas lights and reindeers. We are going to hire bikes and cycle through the woods, go swimming every day, sleep in and not get dressed until late morning, see father christmas, go on a christmas treasure hunt, play board games, eat lots of chocolate, sit in front of an open fire and toast marshmallows. Not have to do any housework other than a bit of cleaning after eating (we have a 'maid' although pointed out to DH it is unlikely to be a long legged, long blonde haired swedish beauty). We might do some arts and crafts, we might not which means we won't

There will be no bumsex as we are not there on a friday.

It is the start of our christmas preparations and after such a difficult year filled with health problems, lack of sleep and lack of a real holiday away as a family (last trip away was marred somewhat by DS getting chicken pox half way through the long weekend).

Come and tell me all your happy stories to make me feel more excited! And give me any tips to make our trip extra special and stress free (like, we are going to take some frozen meals in tupperware to reduce the need to take every single item of condiment and food from home or buy stuff there that we just have to take back with us)

duende oh that sounds perfect, that is exactly what we plan on doing! what day was the fireworks? I wonder if it is the same day in each location?

and we are all prepared for cold. We have vests and jumpers, and welly socks and waterproofs, gloves, hats, scarfs! All packed as we speak [grin. Oh, except, I haven't seen the kids animal hats

At Elveden the fireworks are on Wednesday. And I would happily pay 20 million pounds for a pancake house pancake.
We are painting christmas decorations at the pottery studio, having the carriage ride to see santa, going to the mini farm with Mrs Christmas.
I also have lots of nuts and seeds to feed the already large wildlife.
Have a great time.

amblin talking of attire, what do people from Colorado wear exactly? probably what I have just described

I have packed my christmas pudding hat! You will get the timetable of the weeks activities at the gate so won't miss the fireworks.

The fireworks were on Sunday and Wednesday I think.
The one thing i didn't enjoy as much with a winter break was how short the days were. It's completely dark shortly after 4 now and with a 3 year old there is not that much to do outside in the dark.

Anyway, I'm sure you'll have an amazing time :)

We went to longleat on day passes yesterday . Father Christmas tried to give ds3 (5 months ) a chocolate coin to eat

oh we are going with a 3yr old. we have torches, so will go for a dark stroll in the woods, and if it is clear we will go star gazing with him and DD. He loves the dark with a torch. We went to Eden project for halloween and the rainforest dome was in almost pitch black, with people dressed as ghouls howling like wolves, he loved it, but had to have his torch in his mits.

And, as back up, we have pens, paper, chocolate, and thomas on the ipad to keep him amused

memphis oh, see, that would have been a good code for us. Christmas Pudding hats! DD has a reindeer hat, fabulously furry and warm, just needs a red nose on it, and DS has a wolf hat but won't wear it.

didn't realise you can go on day passes, not that we would as it is quite a trek for one day!

We only got in on a day pass as a friend was staying.

Enjoy - I am sure the dc will love it, we didn't want to come home yesterday !

Pavlov, I am here now in villa no 318 watching xfactor final dd has just toasted her 6th marshmallow on the open fire!! We bought the marshmallows in the shop there are American ones and absolutely massive! Don't forget hand and body lotion as all the swimming always makes you dehydrated. Tell your hubby the cleaner is a young lad about 19 or so reasonably cute!
If you plan on cooking I would bring a good knife and there is a wine cooler so plenty of wine!
Have a fab time!

Well, DS was so impressed with how big the lodge was he wanted to play hide and seek all the time ;)
After a few hours at the pool and a couple more hours of fresh air, he was quite happy o have some down time inside, as well.

Great, Pavlov, you have now made me browse the CP website checking out prices for May....;)

Oh good spot! we are not far from that spot ourselves tomorrow. We are in the 'pink' area. Wine is on my list. thanks for the knife tip, DH will be pleased about that! and we do have marshmallows on our list!

duende what lodge did you have? Good to hear it is spacious

ELR so, rather than DH wanting to stay in to make sure the cleaner does it all properly, I shall have to watch over him or, given my age, is that very wrong?

Yes something like that! I'm 35 and felt like a perv typing he was cute!

ok, but you did type it, and as you are the same age as me and i thought it, it cant be wrong. right?

Hope you are having a fab time

We are in, I have wine, it is fab. We got through the barrier st 3.05pm, how perfect is that! Kids are just so happy! En suite bathrooms which I did expect. Had bern warned decor was old and tred but its modern ikea style, lovely, even have a built in beer/wine fridge!

Outdoor pool looks amazing steaming hot, in the dark with Christmas lights around it, very atmospheric. We have our bikes, not fallen off yet!

elr you still here? We are in, not far from you. It's lovely

So glad I found this thread - we are going for Christmas week (to Elvedon) and this has made me even more excited!!

Hi no sadly back at home with a mountain of washing!! We had such a fab time, the atmosphere was really chrismassy and I feel super relaxed now. Make sure you go swimming at night, well tea time really it gets dark at 4.30. Hope you have a fab time.

Ooh all excited now we go to longleat next Monday!

All booked (& paid for !!) by the ils.

Allegedly have a hot tub though fil is a notorious piss taker so that may b a wind up..

girls am at your ILs paying - it does cost an arm and a couple of legs!

ELR will definitely take the kids swimming after dark...hope we find our way back again...

Yep it definitely does- they are paying for me dh our FOUR dcs, bil & sil plus their two, sil and her three and themselves!

Think they may have robbed a bank??

It's in honour of sil coming over from Australia so we actually all spend some time together.

girly lucky! You are going to love it. Just been swimming. Lots of fun! It's very frosty, with misty breath outside, so it feels Christmassy. They have made huge efforts to make it festive, I am impressed.

There are saunas in some of the bigger accommodation, as well as a hot tub and some have games rooms too. We have a whirlpool bath with is fun enough with the little ones.

Accommodation is great, beds very comfy, housekeeping dd a great job.