As we explored the USA in our travel trailer I became inspired to spread some Christmas Joy! But not just any Christmas joy. Specifically, the under served niche of Campground Christmas joy. Thus, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Campground Edition was born.
This new timeless tale sees Santa and his team visiting a travel trailer to create Christmas magic.
Right now it is available as an Amazon ebook. The print version is being formatted, but is having some technical difficulties.
If you do not have have an Amazon Kindle device, you can download the free Kindle App from the App stores. Click here for more information the app on Amazon. (The ebook is available on Kindle Unlimited if you have the KU subscription, or for sale for $3.99.)
I hope you enjoy reading this book with your family as much as I enjoyed making it with mine. (If you did enjoy it, please leave a review on Amazon. Thank you!)
At our old sticks-and-bricks, we used to make and deliver Christmas cookies to everyone in the cul-de-sac. There were a few times we did Elf Bags as well, but it mostly the cookies. It was a great way to try to bring a little brightness to someone else’s life. I do miss our neighbors and the cookie tradition. Sometimes the neighbors joined in: one of our neighbors would bake sweet bread and bring it over, another would sometimes give us an ornament when we dropped off the cookies, one year a neighbor and their family went caroling.
With Covid, I have noticed not as much community get togethers in the campgrounds, which I totally get (and support). We’ve been staying to ourselves as well, with just the “hello” in passing for the most part. However, I think everyone needs some cheer, especially this year, so we wanted to do the Elf Bag at the campground. Due to Covid, we didn’t do any homemade treats and tried to make sure everything in the bag was sealed or washable. Elf Bags are similar to the Halloween boo bags, only Christmas themed. (I’ve also seen it as You’ve Been Jingled.)
We found a cute ornament kit and a Hershey’s Build-A-Santa bar at Target (ornament kit in the deal bins at the front of the store). We also added in a bag of red and green suckers, a penguin tic tac toe game, candy cane filled with red and green candy, and some mini candy canes. For more Elf Bag ideas, you can see my list here (from my mom blog). The campground store also had a packet to put in the fire pits that caused the flames to change* color, so we put one of those in as well.
We wanted to find a couple of Christmas things to do with the kids for their first Christmas away from home. While I hoped we didn’t see any snow, we did want to see some Christmas lights! After searching online, I found the 55 Nights of Fredericksburg Lights. The town did a nightly event to turn on the lights at the Marketplatz and featured the 26 ft tall German Christmas Pyramid.
The pyramid was made in Germany and was the tallest one in the US when it came over. It was neat to see; all but the top layer moved. The candles were electric (small Christmas pyramids for houses used to use real candles).
The town itself was very cute with lots of historic looking buildings. There were several hilarious shop signs as well.
It was about an hour drive from our campground. We went on a Tuesday, which may have been a mistake. Although the 55 Nights were advertised, there actually wasn’t a lot to do when we got there (about 4:45pm). It seemed like most of the shops were closed for the day (or there were several that were closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays). There were only two places open serving dinner type of food (a wine tasting place and a brewery) and an ice cream shop. (We ended up grabbing dinner on the way home.) There was also a chocolate shop, but once we got to the front doors and saw the employees were not wearing masks, we did not go in.
I did find some cute mini cookie cutters and a Christmas gift for Will. We did not stay long after the lighting, as most places were closed.
Day 10: White wine. Atlas Bear, Chenin Blanc, Product of South Africa. I think this was the first South African wine I had ever had. The label art alone was worth a purchase. Who doesn’t love a bear on a bicycle transporting balloons? It was a standard white wine for me. A little dry.
Day 11: Red wine. Bold Bull. It was good, nothing really stood out.
Day 12: White wine. Not a favorite of mine. It was ok. Carrete Viognier, Chile.
Day 13: Red wine. This was decent merlot, nothing too crazy. The Conductor, Bulgarian Merlot.
Day 14: White wine. This one had a little of a floral/fruity smell. It was a little sweet for a white wine with an almost tangy aftertaste. Baciato Dal Sol Trebbiano (Italy).
We wanted to have lights on the outside of the RV for Christmas. We hung some lights around the back door and the ladder, and across the front using Command hooks. We found a candy cane striped rope light and have that laying on the ground near our connections. (Helps to see it when we have to go out at night to empty the tanks). The outdoor tent also got decorated with plastic ornaments at the corners and lights on the inside. It’s not the best light hanging I’ve done, but it at least looks cheery! 🙂
Inside the RV we have a RV ornament hanging by the TV, our stockings and two large ornaments hanging off the living room slide. On the wall, we have our Christmas tree (complete with lights), and a Christmas RV decoration sent to us in the mail! We also changed the LED strip lights on the living room slide to red and green.
With just four rooms, it has been a challenge for him to hide and observe. However, he is making the most of the small space as we all are.
Mini-E likes to go high for optimal viewing perspective. This round, he found his way onto valences, slide outs, stockings and even behind the mirror on the medicine cabinet.
Days 4-7
NOTE: The oldest found Mini-E in the bathroom to be creepy because he felt watched while he went. The family has requested E provide some privacy and abstain from bathroom watching in the future. Looks like he is down to just three rooms.
Days 5-11
Days 8-11 found Mini-E hiding in Will’s messy desk, behind Ben’s green screen he uses for work, sleeping on our bedroom slide, and in the pantry guarding the bag of chips.
The wine Advent calendar was super cute. After you open the outer box you can see 24 little circles that you poke out for the countdown.
Day 1: Started with a Red wine. Vieux Ciseaux Merlot from France. Ooh la la. I was carving a pumpkin at the time and felt it accompanied it well. NOTE: The half bottle fits nicely in my wine glass, so technically I only had 1 drink.
Day 2: Red wine. I like reds more than white wines, so I was excited to see where this was going. Nightfall, California Zinfandel. I think I liked it. Going to have to try another to remember.
Day 3: White wine. Okay, I guess we had to have equal treatment with white and reds. Ciel Bleu D’Aquitaine, Sauvignon Blanc. It was nice for a white wine.
Day 4: Red wine. Ceilo D’Oro, Sangiovese, product of Italy. I drank this on my birthday after visiting Roswell. I was hoping for an out of this world wine, unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver that. It was nice. I enjoyed the previous Red wines more though.
Day 5: Red wine. Pasarica, Malbec from Argentina. An outstanding accompaniment to foil dinner over the camp fire. Works well when gearing up to take on laundry.
Day 6: White wine. Ballun, Pinot Grigo, from Moldova. Nice wine after a long day with the cattle. I enjoyed this after seeing the Fort Worth Stockyards. Nice grassy overtones or that might have just been my jeans. Either way, solid white wine.
Day 7: Red wine. Heros, Syrah, Vin de France. This one comes with a story of regret. It was a little drier than I normally like. But, unfortunately due to a 400 square foot, child induced earthquake, we lost this wine and a seat cushion before I could give it a thorough review. Fortunately, no family members were harmed in this winetastrophe.
Day 8: White wine. Octopads, Macabeo, product of Spain. Drank this after a visit to Dallas. It was fine, but not one I would seek out in the future.
Day 9: Red wine. A nice Pinot Noir, not my favorite, but not bad either. Three Brothers Pino Noir.
So far, so good with this experiment. I will say, I am a little behind with my consumption (only averaging a bottle every 3 days). I guess I should have started this in early September. So either I am going to start day drinking for the rest of December or these bottles may go to just tastings for some of the wines, especially the ones I don’t love at first sniff.
We had been looking forward to seeing the San Antonio River Walk for a long time, years in fact. So, of course, one of our first stops in San Antonio was the River Walk.
After driving around to find parking (everything is paid parking, even street parking), we lucked out and found a spot near one of the River Walk bridge entrances.
The River Walk is as neat as everyone says. There were sections of just walking (or running for some people) with plants growing along the walls or decorations in the retaining/bridge walls. Then there was the shopping and restaurant section of the River Walk. The restaurants certainly had great patio views.
Our first trip there was during the day, which was great. But Ben had seen online that the Christmas lights really make it beautiful. So, we went back during a Luminary weekend, which was too pretty. We found a restaurant next to the river to eat dinner (Casa Rio). All the wait staff wore masks, and there were plastic curtains between tables. They also seated customers with a table in between them for spacing. The ducks that occupy the canal are expert beggars at these restaurants. The kids named them water pigeons. While eating it was fun to hear snippets of the boat tour guides speeches as they passed. Ultimately, we got to sit and and enjoy the lights as they came on at dusk.
The restaurants were decked out in lights, there were lights hanging down from the trees and they had luminaries placed along the sidewalk. It looked like open-drink carry was allowed, as we saw several people with (plastic) glasses of wine or even baggies with straws for frozen margaritas.
CAUTION: Most of the sidewalk does not have railings. Be careful while walking along the edge. It would be really easy to fall in. Luckily, we did not.
It was a really neat treat to see the River Walk and so far it has had my favorite Christmas decorations.
During our Costco adventures, we found a wine advent calendar! Ben got it for me and I have been enjoying it since October. It contains 24 half bottles of wine. I started Advent early this year (on Halloween), because there is no way I could drink that much wine in 24 days! It has been a neat adventure. There are a lot of different types of wines in the calendar, most of which I probably wouldn’t try on my own.
The wine Advent calendar cost $99.99 (+tax). I’ll have a few posts with pictures of the bottles from the wine journey as we prepare for Santa’s arrival over the coming month!
So far I like this type of wineing a lot more than what we normally have in the RV.
NOTE: For you beer lovers, I also saw a beer advent calendar at some locations.
