jenbraker's Profile

Our Disney celebration took place in December of 2005, to celebrate not only the holidays, but my son Johnny's 6th Birthday (Dec 30th).
I planned the celebration as a way to help my child cope with the sudden and tragic loss of his father the year before, on Dec 16th, 2004. I felt like I needed something to help overshadow the horrible memory that pretty much made his birthday and Christmas a very sad reminder that he had lost his father so young.

It also became a celebration of a new beginning for us, as a new man came into our lives and we both fell in love with him. His name is Ed Haines. We had only been dating a few months, when Johnny decided he had a very serious question for Ed. "Could you be my new Daddy?" he asked him not long before the trip.
I wasn't quite ready to commit to the seriousness of that question at that point, but I thought it would be nice to take him on our vacation with us, as we all were having so much fun together.

I made the right decision. We all just needed to have a huge magical celebration in a BIG WAY! Disney you made it all possible.
The trip was planned through Disney travel agents and it was the easiest trip ever, and to this date THE MOST FUN WE HAVE EVER HAD!

Because it was Johnny's Birthday, everyone made a big fuss over him, everywhere we went if he had his birthday pin on. It was exactly what my child needed to keep his mind off of the sad memory of the year before.

The first day he decided Pluto was his favorite character, so we bought him a Pluto Hat. Needless to say he kept that hat on the ENTIRE TRIP! :)
When Pluto left a birthday card for him on his hotel room bed, his eyes were wide with amazement. "How did Pluto know that was my bed?" I told him that Pluto is a dog , and that he probably just sniffed him out! how else could he have known?!

Johnny was just sure that all of the people at the Magic Kingdom the day we celebrated his birthday, were all there just to celebrate with him.
He would stand in line and say , "Thanks for coming to my birthday party!" with a huge smile on his face, in his little Pluto hat, just so proud to be 6 years old.

He couldn't believe it when we rode the Aerosmith Ride, and Steven Tyler came on the loud speaker and said "Hey Johnny Braker, Happy Birthday!"

Thank you Disney for giving us a trip we will never forget. It was exactly what all of us needed.
Ed is still with us, we are engaged now and he has bonded with my son in a way that makes me think of Ed as a hero. As a father.
The three of us often watch the video that I created out of the 5 days of photos and video clips from our first trip together. We bought a Christmas ornament that year also with Mickey and Minnie, that says "Our First Christmas together" because I think it was on that trip that we knew.....this was going to become a permanent relationship. We hang it on our tree every year with the utmost care and placement. It is one of our favorite reminders of that magical week.

The pluto hat hangs on the corner of Johnny's bunk bed in a place of honor and good memories for him. He often puts it on, and asks if we can go back to Disney.

Many nights we talk about how we want to get back to Disney as soon as we can afford to. Maybe a honeymoon, but definitely soon, before Johnny gets too much older and while still believes in magic.(he is 9 now)

Only Disney could have given us this gift of Happiness and Magic to comfort us in a time of sorrow. Thank you so much for giving my child and I a NEW memory to have for the month of December, one that we will always cherish!
The magic and love we found there has continued in our lives and hopefully we will get back there very soon.

Jennifer Braker
14 Phoenix Court
Tinton Falls, NJ 07712
732-272-7268