How will you be spending this last weekend before Christmas? I’ll be doing some last minute shopping, but hope to do some things with my family that will represent the holidays and remind us what we are celebrating.

• 10 low-stress gift-shopping tips for those who wait until the last minute. I’ll be reading this article to find ways to stretch my time this weekend.
• Tips to stay stress free during the holidays. My favorite tip from this blog is “don’t do it all.”
• Need some gift ideas? Visit Lastminute.com.

If you are in Orlando and want some ideas of what to do, here’s a quick list of my favorites:

• ICE! The Gaylord Palms hosts this chilly event every year. If you haven’t been it’s worth the admission — especially for Floridians who don’t get to experience snow. Read my full post from our visit last year.
• An Orlando Christmas — if you are visiting the area this Christmas, here’s a list of things to do. It includes the Grinch at Universal, hotels to visit and the best place in Central Florida to see Santa.
• Don’t miss my post the other day to see video of the lightening of Cinderella’s castle.

From ICE! the exhibit.

We headed to Walt Disney World the other night to experience the Magic Kingdom at night — to see how Disney does Christmas. The park was packed. It was more like a madhouse to be accurate. But it was lit up in all its Christmas glory. The place looked truly magical.

At 6:30 p.m., daily, the park lights up Cinderella’s castle in a short, but memorable ceremony. Cinderella’s fairy godmother comes out of the castle and says some bib-bidy, bob-bidy-bo something or other and the castle starts to light up, one section at a time.

This lovely gem of a photo was taken by Chris Murray, husband extraordinaire.

Even though we had to fight through throngs of people it was totally worth it to take a break from the rush-rush of the season and enjoy some time celebrating the holiday.

A friend and I are taking our 2-year-olds to do some Christmas stuff around town next month and it got me thinking of how much there is to do in Orlando this time of year. I did some research and came up with a list of my favorite things that I’ve either reported on as an Orlando travel editor, or that I want to do now that I have a kid. Most of the events on my list don’t require theme park admission because I like to do things on the cheap, but I do include a few that do. Here goes:

ICE — The Gaylord Palms resort hosts a cool (HA!) event every year, that I have yet to attend, but am planning on taking my son to this year. They bring in 2,000,000 (that’s two million) pounds of ice sculptures and keep them at 9 degrees (that’s cold for Floridians!). Read the resort’s blog, Behind the Scenes of ICE!

Disney hotels — They are all decorated to the hilt. Your kid won’t need to go to a theme park. We usually park at Disney’s boardwalk and go into one or two of the hotels there, then walk around the boardwalk to see the other sights.

Snow in Celebration — The town that Disney built near Orlando has a “snow fall” every evening (really just bubbles that blow every hour) with carolers, Santa, the “Celebration Express” and horse drawn carriage rides. The snow falls hourly from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Mall at Millenia Santa — He’s the best in the world. Really. He’s the real deal. I call him, “old-fashioned Santa.” Prepare to wait in line, unless you get there on a weekday, early in the morning.

Theme parks:

There’s a ton to do at the theme parks this time of year, but I’ll mention two of the ones that I know most about:

Islands of Adventure — I love, love, love what they do at IOA during the holidays. Suessville comes to life with The Grinch and all the Who’s from Whooville. It is truly a magical place to be and the kids love all the singing and action.

Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights (Disney-MGM Studios) — I haven’t been to this event, but I hear raves about it every year. If you are at Disney this season it’s a must stop.

Photo courtesy of Universal Orlando Resort.