Every year around Christmastime, the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, presents LoneStar Christmas, and ICE! If you've ever heard that things are bigger in Texas, the Gaylord Texan will confirm the legend ... inside this resort is a replica of the Alamo and a riverwalk on over four acres, always beautiful, but especially so when gloriously decorated for the holidays.
We took a field trip to enjoy the ICE! this week to get into the Christmas spirit. ICE! is a display of over 2 million pounds of carved ice. This year's theme was Christmas Around the World, with vibrant happy colors and delightful greater than life-size sculptures.
Of course keeping 2 million pounds of ice solid is a commitment, and it is COLD ... like 9 degrees cold! The first thing you do is get a parka, and as soon as you don your fashionable winter gear, you're ready for an ice adventure. The parkas are plenty warm, but if you go, you'll definitely want gloves; a hat and maybe even a muffler might also be good things. I enjoyed feeling the cold, but even with gloves on, my hands were numb when we were done!
There were all kinds of fun photo opportunities with the sculptures. It reminded me a little of Disney's 'It's a Small World' without the boats and the song :o) There's also a two story ice-slide, and of course you wouldn't want to miss Santa or his sleigh.
The last display is a beautiful, glittering nativity scene.
Once outside the ICE! there's a huge "snow" slide, where you can tube down to the bottom. There's also a pair of giant Santa boots, and a store filled with fun Christmas decor.
Seeing the ICE! was plenty to get us holiday-happy, but walking through the Gaylord is also quite the Christmas experience. Everything is decorated with a tasteful LoneStar twist. There were lots of families with little children, and many were decked out in Christmas attire - completely adorable. We also spotted a couple Elves of Elf on the Shelf fame ... and Santa himself!
You can get pricing information for tickets to ICE! }here{, but if you're looking for fun free things to do around the holidays, just walking through the Gaylord is an event in itself (you do have to pay for parking). We were there during the day, but it's extra special at night, with all the lights. Here are a couple night-time photos from the Gaylord website:
See what I mean? Total magic!
All those bright bright colors make me happy :) this was such a fun afternoon. Doing 'field trips' like this when the kids were little just seemed like too much for me, and we didnt do a lot of this sort of thing when they were young. I'm really thankful my kids don't consider things like this to be beneath them, now that they're teens and older. We had a really fun time!
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