This year my family couldn't decide where to spend Christmas. With everyone spread out over the States and my parents now living in China, we needed somewhere for over 20 people to get together for a few days without stepping on each other's toes. We ended up in Leakey
(pronounced lake-ee), Texas at the Tree Top. It was beautiful. The little town of Lakey could have come out of a book.
Down town had a few businesses, churches and a park. Everyone there knew each other.
We spent an hour at the Mercantile waiting for the rest of the family to come and finishing up our grocery shopping. Each family was in charge of one or two meals. Jeff and I had one of the breakfasts-we did
PW's baked french toast. It was a huge success. We loved hanging out in the store-as each customer came in the owner greeted them by name. It reminded us of when we lived in Montana.
The Tree Top is just a mile or so from Down Town, and we all excitedly headed over. We drove through a winding road and had to avoid herds of deer munching on grass alongside the road.
Once we got to the house we were excited to see it had been beautifully decorated for Christmas. There is one house and a cottage on the location, a giant deck built into a tree, several other decks, a gazebo, hot tub and beautiful stone stairs to access the river. It was SO beautiful and the perfect location for a huge family.
The entrance to the cottage where my parents stayed.
The inside-a little thrashed from Christmas but it survived! It is a one bedroom, one bathroom cottage with a wet bar and sitting room.
Over at the big house the loft was the perfect place for all the kids to sleep-there are three beds upstairs and plenty of room on the floor. The window overlooks the front yard.
Looking down from the loft you can see the kitchen....
And living room. What you don't see is the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms below it. The couches in the living room are also pull out beds so the entire property sleeps about 22 people. We debated forever how that deer got those Christmas baubles.. a ladder? Clipped on? Thrown over?
Outside the house was just as pretty as the inside. The actual tree house is the big hit with the kids-and the adults... especially because there is a fire pit on the deck.
The whole view of the house-although it's hard to see the beautiful stairs and that there are two decks. Up top in between the two houses is a gazebo and hot tub. The hot tub saved our butts after the polar bear swim in the river. Emma was the brave one who started the swim-but almost all the kids and myself ended up in the river.. and then once we were close to hypothermia we ran up the stairs and into the hot tub. Once warmed up-the kids would dare each other to run all the way down the stairs and into the river again. I declined. I'm too old for that kind of shenanigans. We did play truth or dare-dares being the most common choice and everyone at some point probably licked dirt, kissed a tree or danced with leaves.
Grandpa spent a lot of time with the kids hiking along the river bed. Despite how beautiful the scenery was, they will all probably be scarred for life with memories of the dead deer dancing to the tune of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Don't ask-I think we're all trying to forget the event and I think Sadie is still crying.
Christmas Eve found us all resting from hiking and swimming, playing games and awaiting the night. The kids were so cute playing together all the time and I felt like I never saw Tristan. He was constantly being toted around by one of his sweet cousins.. which he loved. He lights up like a Christmas tree when big kids pay attention to him. Our family always tries to keep the spirit of Christmas, so we decided to go into town and attend a candlelight service.
I used to always attend midnight mass with a good friend, but since being married and moving, I haven't been in a few years.
The service was beautiful, it really helped us focus on the true reason for the holiday. The minister read the story of Christ's birth and the whole congregation sang almost all of the Christmas hymns. If you notice, we were fortunate to sit in the front row. We thought being a few minutes early would give us a chance to hide in the back. Apparently that is what the whole town does-so the only available seating was in the first two rows. That also made it awkward when the minister announced we would be taking communion by walking to the front... Jeff and I were the first of our row to be shoved to the front by the guy with the cane behind us. Regardless, the congregation was so kind and sweet to the whole family. One man came up to Ben afterwards and complimented his beautiful daughters and said he loves big families. He gave Ben some cash and told him to take the girls out.
My favorite, and probably the kid's favorite part was sharing the light of the Christ candle with each other and singing
Silent Night. With the lights dimmed in the church, and everyone singing that song on the eve of the Savior's birth it really gave us a chance to reflect on what is truly important this time of year, and to be grateful for the life of our Savior. After the service we thanked the minister for sharing his sermon with us and went back to the house. We ate dinner, played more games and then got ready to get the kids in bed.
I had brought reindeer food for the kids to sprinkle on the front lawn. They loved it, and it was so precious to see all their little eyes light up and their debate over how and where it should be sprinkled. After we sprinkled the reindeer food we went back inside for hot chocolate. I had a recipe I got from a friend for some "sleeping potion" for the kids. Basically you let them see you put a drop or so of the "potion" (that smells JUST like vanilla) into their hot chocolate and it will make them think they can sleep better. With 11 kids wandering in the kitchen with cups of hot chocolate it got hard to remember who got some. Avery yelped when I gave her a second dose that she had already got some. As to keep in the spirit of things I said, "Uh oh! We'd better fix that or you'll never wake up tomorrow!" I meant, "You'll never wake up and will sleep all through presents and breakfast!" I didn't mean, "you'll never wake up and DIE!" But that's what Sadie thought I meant. She looked at me, her chin dropped to the floor and she wailed for twenty minutes, "She'll neeeeeeeeeeeeever waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaked uuuuup!!!" It was pretty dramatic. Poor kid. Between that and the singing reindeer she will favor any holiday over this one. After the hot chocolate the kids got in their pajamas and went upstairs to the loft. One of them noticed a cat eating the reindeer food. THe cat disappeared and then we had a few deer stroll through and munch. It was a pretty magical moment, the still of the night, watching the deer munch on oatmeal and sprinkles before wandering away to tell Santa the kids were still up. Grandpa read them the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon, I read "The Night Before Christmas" and then they tried to go to sleep.
The next morning they woke to their mischevious elf who had toilet papered the tree and most of the house. He even got Tucker who slept on the hide a bed-he never even woke up!
Santa had clearly been there...
But the presents were nowhere to be found. The presents under the tree were from Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents and Cousins. The kids were confused. Fortunetly, Grandma came over with the news that the tree at her house had been visited-and the couch was full of stockings.
We opened presents one at a time-althought it looks like complete chaos. It was so much fun.. Tristan opened a Hershey Kiss all by himself and made a huge mess.
His toy from Santa was a hit-he played with it FOREVER.
The other hit toy with the babies was the classic Fisher Price pop up.
It was a big mess of wrapping paper, toys and excited kids. It was a lot of fun.
After playing there for a while we went back to the other house. To the kid's dismay, Santa's footprints has vanished. Eliora told the kids that it would happen once the presents were opened, but I think they were still surprised it did. We ate a huge, delicious breakfast
(Katie's turn) and then proceeded to open MORE presents! It was AWESOME.
Jeff got me a new phone-that was probably the best ever since my old one would turn itself off whenever it felt like it. That made for quite a few awkward conversations.
Grandpa and Grandma got everyone Christmas ornaments from China, along with quite a few other cool gifts. And the gift of their presence ;) That was all they really needed to bring.
The rest of the day everyone spent hanging out, chilling and enjoying each other's company and presents.
The kids really enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa around-they don't get to see them as much anymore and they're greatly missed. Overall, it was a great day. We also baptized Avery-but I'm going to let that be it's own post. It was a pretty neat deal.
So that was our Christmas. It was fun, beautiful, full of amazing memories and a lot of love. Jeff and I are so grateful for each other, our little boy, our families
(we missed his side this year), and the Savior. We hope you had a beautiful Christmas as well!
This year my family couldn't decide where to spend Christmas. With everyone spread out over the States and my parents now living in China, we needed somewhere for over 20 people to get together for a few days without stepping on each other's toes. We ended up in Leakey (pronounced lake-ee), Texas at the Tree Top. It was beautiful. The little town of Lakey could have come out of a book.
Down town had a few businesses, churches and a park. Everyone there knew each other.
We spent an hour at the Mercantile waiting for the rest of the family to come and finishing up our grocery shopping. Each family was in charge of one or two meals. Jeff and I had one of the breakfasts-we did PW's baked french toast. It was a huge success. We loved hanging out in the store-as each customer came in the owner greeted them by name. It reminded us of when we lived in Montana.
The Tree Top is just a mile or so from Down Town, and we all excitedly headed over. We drove through a winding road and had to avoid herds of deer munching on grass alongside the road.
Once we got to the house we were excited to see it had been beautifully decorated for Christmas. There is one house and a cottage on the location, a giant deck built into a tree, several other decks, a gazebo, hot tub and beautiful stone stairs to access the river. It was SO beautiful and the perfect location for a huge family.
The entrance to the cottage where my parents stayed.
The inside-a little thrashed from Christmas but it survived! It is a one bedroom, one bathroom cottage with a wet bar and sitting room.
Over at the big house the loft was the perfect place for all the kids to sleep-there are three beds upstairs and plenty of room on the floor. The window overlooks the front yard.
Looking down from the loft you can see the kitchen....
And living room. What you don't see is the 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms below it. The couches in the living room are also pull out beds so the entire property sleeps about 22 people. We debated forever how that deer got those Christmas baubles.. a ladder? Clipped on? Thrown over?
Outside the house was just as pretty as the inside. The actual tree house is the big hit with the kids-and the adults... especially because there is a fire pit on the deck.
The whole view of the house-although it's hard to see the beautiful stairs and that there are two decks. Up top in between the two houses is a gazebo and hot tub. The hot tub saved our butts after the polar bear swim in the river. Emma was the brave one who started the swim-but almost all the kids and myself ended up in the river.. and then once we were close to hypothermia we ran up the stairs and into the hot tub. Once warmed up-the kids would dare each other to run all the way down the stairs and into the river again. I declined. I'm too old for that kind of shenanigans. We did play truth or dare-dares being the most common choice and everyone at some point probably licked dirt, kissed a tree or danced with leaves.
Grandpa spent a lot of time with the kids hiking along the river bed. Despite how beautiful the scenery was, they will all probably be scarred for life with memories of the dead deer dancing to the tune of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer." Don't ask-I think we're all trying to forget the event and I think Sadie is still crying.
Christmas Eve found us all resting from hiking and swimming, playing games and awaiting the night. The kids were so cute playing together all the time and I felt like I never saw Tristan. He was constantly being toted around by one of his sweet cousins.. which he loved. He lights up like a Christmas tree when big kids pay attention to him. Our family always tries to keep the spirit of Christmas, so we decided to go into town and attend a candlelight service.
I used to always attend midnight mass with a good friend, but since being married and moving, I haven't been in a few years.
The service was beautiful, it really helped us focus on the true reason for the holiday. The minister read the story of Christ's birth and the whole congregation sang almost all of the Christmas hymns. If you notice, we were fortunate to sit in the front row. We thought being a few minutes early would give us a chance to hide in the back. Apparently that is what the whole town does-so the only available seating was in the first two rows. That also made it awkward when the minister announced we would be taking communion by walking to the front... Jeff and I were the first of our row to be shoved to the front by the guy with the cane behind us. Regardless, the congregation was so kind and sweet to the whole family. One man came up to Ben afterwards and complimented his beautiful daughters and said he loves big families. He gave Ben some cash and told him to take the girls out.
My favorite, and probably the kid's favorite part was sharing the light of the Christ candle with each other and singing Silent Night. With the lights dimmed in the church, and everyone singing that song on the eve of the Savior's birth it really gave us a chance to reflect on what is truly important this time of year, and to be grateful for the life of our Savior. After the service we thanked the minister for sharing his sermon with us and went back to the house. We ate dinner, played more games and then got ready to get the kids in bed.
I had brought reindeer food for the kids to sprinkle on the front lawn. They loved it, and it was so precious to see all their little eyes light up and their debate over how and where it should be sprinkled. After we sprinkled the reindeer food we went back inside for hot chocolate. I had a recipe I got from a friend for some "sleeping potion" for the kids. Basically you let them see you put a drop or so of the "potion" (that smells JUST like vanilla) into their hot chocolate and it will make them think they can sleep better. With 11 kids wandering in the kitchen with cups of hot chocolate it got hard to remember who got some. Avery yelped when I gave her a second dose that she had already got some. As to keep in the spirit of things I said, "Uh oh! We'd better fix that or you'll never wake up tomorrow!" I meant, "You'll never wake up and will sleep all through presents and breakfast!" I didn't mean, "you'll never wake up and DIE!" But that's what Sadie thought I meant. She looked at me, her chin dropped to the floor and she wailed for twenty minutes, "She'll neeeeeeeeeeeeever waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaked uuuuup!!!" It was pretty dramatic. Poor kid. Between that and the singing reindeer she will favor any holiday over this one. After the hot chocolate the kids got in their pajamas and went upstairs to the loft. One of them noticed a cat eating the reindeer food. THe cat disappeared and then we had a few deer stroll through and munch. It was a pretty magical moment, the still of the night, watching the deer munch on oatmeal and sprinkles before wandering away to tell Santa the kids were still up. Grandpa read them the Christmas story from the Book of Mormon, I read "The Night Before Christmas" and then they tried to go to sleep.
The next morning they woke to their mischevious elf who had toilet papered the tree and most of the house. He even got Tucker who slept on the hide a bed-he never even woke up!
Santa had clearly been there...
But the presents were nowhere to be found. The presents under the tree were from Aunts and Uncles and Grandparents and Cousins. The kids were confused. Fortunetly, Grandma came over with the news that the tree at her house had been visited-and the couch was full of stockings.
We opened presents one at a time-althought it looks like complete chaos. It was so much fun.. Tristan opened a Hershey Kiss all by himself and made a huge mess.
His toy from Santa was a hit-he played with it FOREVER.
The other hit toy with the babies was the classic Fisher Price pop up.
It was a big mess of wrapping paper, toys and excited kids. It was a lot of fun.
After playing there for a while we went back to the other house. To the kid's dismay, Santa's footprints has vanished. Eliora told the kids that it would happen once the presents were opened, but I think they were still surprised it did. We ate a huge, delicious breakfast (Katie's turn) and then proceeded to open MORE presents! It was AWESOME.
Jeff got me a new phone-that was probably the best ever since my old one would turn itself off whenever it felt like it. That made for quite a few awkward conversations.
Grandpa and Grandma got everyone Christmas ornaments from China, along with quite a few other cool gifts. And the gift of their presence ;) That was all they really needed to bring.
The rest of the day everyone spent hanging out, chilling and enjoying each other's company and presents.
The kids really enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa around-they don't get to see them as much anymore and they're greatly missed. Overall, it was a great day. We also baptized Avery-but I'm going to let that be it's own post. It was a pretty neat deal.
So that was our Christmas. It was fun, beautiful, full of amazing memories and a lot of love. Jeff and I are so grateful for each other, our little boy, our families (we missed his side this year), and the Savior. We hope you had a beautiful Christmas as well!
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