Christgiving Thankmas

We started a new tradition in my family this year. My parents were sick of dealing with the whole "who's coming for Thanksgiving/Christmas" each year and decided to instigate celebrating the two of them together at a time in between. We call it a CHRISTGIVING THANKMAS! Pretty cool huh? It's the best of both worlds. You get the big Thanksgiving dinner and the gift exchange, plus you get to kick back and hang out with family without the stress of the actual holiday.

As I've mentioned in an earlier post, my brother owns a couple cabins up in Bear Lake and we figured that was the best place to do it at. It's big enough to fit all of us....and then some.....and it's close enough that it's not a long drive, but far enough that you feel like you're getting away. We did it last weekend and we all had a blast! It's definitely a tradition I want to keep going. Why didn't we think of this years ago?

It wasn't snowing when we left or when we arrived, but a storm was a brewing. This is what we woke up to the first morning:


I was kind of hoping we'd get snowed in so we'd have to stay an extra day. But no such luck! And the snow certainly didn't keep anyone out of the hot tub....it only encouraged it.

We had lots of great food. Peyton kept being a bully to her cousin, Zenick, and would constantly be found stealing his food. But finally she decided to be nice and actually feed him instead. He let her. It's the least she could do.

Some played games while others just relaxed....

The kids had fun playing with their new toys. Both the young.....

and the old!

The kids hardly needed toys though, they had fun just running around the cabin. One of the biggest hits was throwing things down from the loft area, especially the toy that Joey is picture in above....the caterpillar tube. They loved throwing it down onto an unsuspecting victim below to see if they could land it perfectly over them "capturing" them.

My brothers had fun playing with their nieces and nephews.

Peyton didn't think it was very funny though when we pretended she was a guitar and tried to put her away.

She did think it was pretty funny though to play with the water fountain. We couldn't keep her away from it and kept having to unplug it.

Saturday night the kids (some larger than others) acted out the Nativity. It was quite the event. It had the usual lineup. Gift-bearing wisemen.....

the baby, Jesus.....

some angels.....

even a sad little shepherd!

The whole thing was very cute and deserved a bow from the cast....

Both of my younger, SINGLE, brothers brought a girl with them. I guess we'll wait and see if they're at the 2nd annual Christgiving Thankmas. Wink wink!

Either way, I know I will be! I can't wait for next year!!