My niece, who is the apple of my eye, has always loved for me to read or tell her fairytales since she was a toddler. When she started school, the stories still were exciting but I could tell that as each year passed she greeted them with less and less excitement. It wasn't that she did't want me reading or telling her stories it was that she was getting older and believed them less. My soon to be eight year old niece was growing up. The straw that broke the camel's back was when she told me that she did not believe in Santa Claus when I asked her what she wanted Santa to bring her. She was seven! That winter I decided then and there that I woud take her to Disney World for her birthday the following summer. So I planned trip. I took off a week from work, told her parents to plan their own vacation, grabbed my niece and off we headed to Disney World.

Here's what I know. Disney World is a place of fairytales and make believe. When you step foot into the Disney Kingdom you enter a make believe world where city girls or country girls are transformed into princesses and boys into pirates. It suggests that anything is possible. Mice can dance, Pooh and Tigger wander about and kids have fun. Yes the final bill was steep. I could have taken her to Europe or for the money I spent, but the money was worth it to see my niece blush as Prince Charming called her princess; to see her beam with delight as the "real Cinderella" remarked that they were dressed alike; (Yes, I purchased the Cinderella costume for her from the gift shop); to feel her little hand tug me along from ride to ride; to tell me that we had to get matching mouse ears with our names on them. Anything that brings such joy to a child can't be bad. As parents, (and aunties) why wouldn't we want our children to be children and to enjoy all the silliness that goes with it. Trust me they will grow up soon enough. Just the other day my niece told me that she wants to go to the place where Kings and Queens lived. I guess I better start saving for England!