Our Christmas Away

 This year we made the decision to break away from tradition and do something different for Christmas. Every year we spend a little bit of time debriefing after the holidays have passed, what we enjoyed, what could have gone better, how we want our family time to look like while our kids are still young. It can be a challenge because every holiday comes with expectations and to break away from those expectations can be hurtful and difficult. Ultimately though, we always strive to do what we feel is best for our family. We have some kiddo's who do struggle through the holiday season. It can be a lot as we shuffle through 4-7 Christmas celebrations each year. Our hope was that some family time away would help us all enjoy the season to the fullest.

I cannot even put into words how amazing this trip has been! I do my best to not put expectations on a trip, so I really didn't know how the kids would do, but it really has felt perfect! Our kids have struggled lately with attitudes and I felt that could exasperate over the holidays but instead everyone has been calm and thankful and happy! It has simplified things so much that we've just enjoyed being a family and having fun together which is the best gift of Christmas I could get! We have never felt so relaxed through a Christmas season before!

We've felt blessing after blessing on this trip, from a pass that was closed being opened just before we left, to the snow not falling until the night we got here making the roads safer. There wasn't snow on the ground before and there won't be snow on the ground for much longer with none in the forecast, but we had 3 wonderful days of snow surrounding Christmas! It has been perfect! The kids were thrilled on our first morning here to wake up to snow! 

Vacation vibes

We tried to come up with lots of fun ideas to keep the kids entertained 

Of course the pool is a big hit

My crazy guys!

A really fun Christmas date after the kids were in bed, we get to have some fun too! 

Homemade toaster strudels, this was my first try making them and they will be on the menu again - yum!

Nothing like a warm hot tub after fun in the snow!

     

This was our first year making our own plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we had a blast planning a menu, watching movies together and playing games!

 

Santa found us!

Look at that gorgeous Christmas morning out the window! 

 

The kids loved having the chance to play with their toys most of the day! It was so low key and I feel just what they needed to stay regulated! 

This was our first year attempting Peter's family tradition of Lefsa Christmas morning! It was probably one of my favorite memories of the trip as we cooked together and watched the kids enjoy their toys!

After an afternoon spent opening toys and watching movies and for the first time ever, mama even took a NAP ON CHRISTMAS DAY, we headed over to family's condo. They had come down on Christmas Eve night and my mom had made us a yummy Christmas dinner!

And we ended the evening with some games, Eli our little card shark! 

All in all this is possibly one of the best family trips we have ever taken! It has been just what our family needed to reconnect after some tough weeks of parenting. We are so blessed by this awesome little crew we have and are excited to see all the new year will hold for us!