Hey Brendan, do you know some people don't know what Christmas Adam is?
"Really? It's the day before Christmas Eve!!!"
Right!
We let the kids do their Sibling Swap on Christmas Adam. They each pick a name from a hat earlier in the month and spend limited funds on trying to make a sibling happy. They are all very generous and gracious when they open their gifts (especially whomever is the recipient of the youngest's gifts!) and it's sweet and fun. My sister-in-law told me that her eight kids do this but they call it "Advent Angels" and they choose names before Advent begins, and they pray for and do kind acts/give gifts to their siblings during the Advent season. I think I like this approach even better and will have to copy it for next year. Hey, imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, or so I was always told when my little sister copied everything I did :)
Then we packed up the car and headed to The Cape Codder, a hotel with a small waterpark on Cape Cod (duh). The place was relatively empty, which was great and even the restaurants we went to weren't busy so we felt safe but still had lots of fun!
We had to get pizza at Craigville Pizza and Mexican and ice cream at Cape Cod Creamery, since Maggie's Ice Cream is no longer in existence. #rip
Then back to the hotel for the light display and a dip in the outdoor (heated) pool!
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| A Lobster Pot Christmas Tree |
The kids played some sort of tag/hide and seek, hence the yelling in the video:
Proof that Phil was there too ;)
Santa! We know him!
Eamon and Declan had a contest to see who could sit out of the OUTDOOR pool for the longest...it was 30 degrees. Yikes! Declan is a stubborn 7 year old, and we finally convinced Eamon (15) to get in the pool and "lose" so that Declan would "win" and stop the silly game. Boys!
The hotel package came with a spa service, so I treated Maggie to a manicure the next morning.
Then it was back to the waterpark for a little while, and a drive home on a *snowy* Christmas Eve. Magical!
What a lovely little getaway!!
ReplyDeleteThis is so sweet. Our kids have exchanged gifts but this year it didn't happen. They just seem to get busier and busier. Plus Mini was positive and still in isolation. I know they talked about exchanging but no one took the initiative. I love the idea of picking names before advent and praying for them. Great idea.
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