SHARE
For our second Christmas of the year, the Jackson side of the family (mine) all met up in Suncadia for some Winter Wonderland fun. The first thing the kids did was hop into their snow clothes to roll around in the snow.
Before dinner we had another round of presents. Of course we all got some lovely things but one of the best gifts given was by Mom. She donated money in all the kids’ names. One got a goat, one got a chicken, another clean water, etc. Now THAT is the true spirit of giving! (And I love that the kids enjoyed getting it too.)
After an awesome dinner where we happily crowded around the table together we bundled up to make s’mores by the fire pit. Yum!
We finished the night by playing one of my new gifts – Telestrations. This is a great game for all ages and the more players the better the outcome. It is kind of like the telephone game combined with Pictionary. Everybody writes a word on their pad then passes it to the right. The next person draws that word and passes it to the right. The person after that has to just look at the drawing (not the original word) and write what they see. Then it gets passed to the right. And so on and so on. By the time the pad makes it all the way back to the original owner the word/meaning has often changed completely. The best part is going through all the drawings and words at the end. Such a great family game!
Allen and I usually don’t get each other little things for Christmas. We decide in the month or two before Christmas what we need and then do that. We’ve done a closet organizer, or new countertops, etc. (The first year we were married it was a garbage disposal. So romantic!) This year it was a hot tub for Suncadia. This involved removing a window, putting in a door, adding concrete, electrical and a hot tub to the back. It took a long time but it was done in plenty of time for the holiday rush at our house. (It was rented continuously for 2.5 weeks around Christmas. All except the two days we used it!) Not only will it make the house more rentable, but Mr. Fun and the girls are big fans and who doesn’t like sitting in a hot tub in the snow?!? One of the best gifts I got this year was from Wanda. It was a red antler (along with whatever other natural antlers I wanted from her stash). As soon as I saw it I knew that was the solution to our towel problem. I could not find a set of hooks that I wanted to install outside but these were perfect. Just the right mix of whimsy and usefulness!
The next day we all went to the tubing hill to watch those crazy kids hurtling down the hill. Of course Mr. Fun was one of those kids and got so into his pushing job that he ended up face planting into snow bank!
Mom and Tim had to head back early to make sure Tim made his flight but Joelle, Stephen, Allen and I got a lovely night out to dinner while the kids had a movie night at home. It was a great night with the exception of Jill missing the last stair and landing on her foot wrong. That led to another trip to Urgent Care for me to have them confirm that Jill did, indeed, break a bone in her foot. Boo! At least it happened at the end of all our celebrations and she really didn’t miss out on much.
Another fun celebration with family. We really are so blessed!