We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season!
Ben put up a YouTube video of his Christmas book, ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas Campground Edition.
Category: Christmas
‘Twas The Night Before Christmas Campground Edition (Poem)
Happy Christmas Eve! In the light of the giving season, Ben wanted to share the poem version of his book. No matter where you are, we hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Campground Edition) by Ben Tepe, 2020
‘Twas the Night before Christmas, when all through the park, quiet hours dictated even dogs shouldn’t bark.
The stockings were hung on the slide out with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;
The children were restless and wiggly in their bunk, until I yelled “Be still or Christmas is sunk”
Mom in her Christmas jammies and I in my suit, had just fell asleep tired out and kaput
When out on the gravel there arose such a clatter, I tumbled over mom to see what was the matter.
Was it a new neighbor or just a giant racoon? This late arriver flew in without plane nor balloon.
No diesel pusher, nor skoolie, nor gas; this guy was unorthodox and travelled en masse.
He drove his ultralight barely room for his stuff, with his load quite unstable, he wasn’t looking too buff.
All the campers around him peered out through their blinds, this sleigh and reindeer nearly made them lose their minds.
No need for a pull through nor hook-ups at all, this guy was in a hurry to bring joy with a doll.
More rapid than campground billing, his team he could enflame, they listened to him ‘cause he called each one by name.
“Now, Keystone! Now, Grand D! Now, Thor and Jayco! On Airstream! On Tiff! On Winnie and Pal-o!”
“To the peak of that A-frame, to the dome of this rig. Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away jig!”
So, up to the roof top of course they flew, with a satchel full of treats and Santa Claus too!
Fearing the load this furry group had created, Magic alone kept the roof unperforated.
Down through the bath fan Santa came with a bound; dressed for the hunt, he was Christmas Camo gowned.
No time for chit chat he had things to do. To torture the neighbors, he started by leaving a kazoo.
Not sure how he did it with his magic of lore, the whole living space was filled, gifts ceiling to floor.
It doesn’t take much to fill up 200 square feet, but he managed to jam in four TVs, and a pound of dried meat;
A propane fire pit, bike lights and a hammock chair too; St. Nick left nothing out, even single ply for our poo.
Just as fast as he’d come he was gone with some speed, His job now complete he was done with this deed.
But I heard him exclaim in his thick Texas drawl, “Merry Christmas to you, and safe travels to y’all!”
To buy the eBook, complete with the story/poem and illustrations, click here.
Christmas Word Find: Travel Trailer Shaped
I know I did one of these at Thanksgiving. However, the kids requested a Christmas one, so I thought I would share.
We hope you and your families have a very Happy Holiday season!
For a printable version click here.
Answers, click here.
Drive Through Christmas Lights
Although it is really nice for the weather to be between 60-70 degrees (F), it is a little weird that it is so warm the week of Christmas. Saturday we bought a ticket to go see illumiNight, a drive through Christmas light show. It was held at the AT&T Center. The tickets were for timed entry, although there was still quite a wait to get in. A ticket (per car) was $35 (plus online “processing” fees) and $63 for entry/Santa picture (physically distancing). It was cashless, so online ticket sales were recommended.
After entering the grounds, you kind of wrapped around the parking lot, weaving back and forth to make it seem like you were moving (but were still really just in line to get in to the main event). There was a light tunnel and a few other glowing decorations. There was a stop for bathrooms (portable kind) and drive through food. The food was similar to the Fair Foodie Fest we went to in California, although it wasn’t as well run. It was confusing as to whether you should get out of your car to order or not, as they didn’t come up to your window very quickly.
Passing the food and the bathrooms, you finally wrapped around again and came to the main entrance of the light show.
There were some awesome light displays. I loved the train, polar bear, and huge ornaments. There were some quirky things too, like statues of a coyote and antelopes. I’m not really sure on how those fit in.
There was a section for the 12 days of Christmas. It was a neat take on a Christmas light show, although we had a hard time remembering what all the items were. Number 3, we titled Paris Christmas Chickens.
- A partridge in a pear tree
- Two turtle doves
- Three French hens
- Four calling birds
- Five gold rings
- Six geese a-laying
- Seven swans a-swimming
- Eight maids a-milking
- Nine ladies dancing
- Ten lords a-leaping
- Eleven pipers piping
- Twelve drummers drumming
One of the last tunnels had fake snow!
Exploring Austin, Texas
Austin was a little over an hour away from the campground and we were excited to see it. We had heard a lot of good things about the city, plus there were a few holiday events there that we wanted to check out.
We started off at the Blue Genie Art Bazaar. It was a really neat store with booths from different artists. Nick made out with a new baby Yoda face mask and a keychain guitar pick holder. I found a chocolate bar with locally sourced ingredients. It looks like it will be tasty. They did a great job with Covid precautions: everyone had to wear masks and they were limiting the amount of people allowed in the space.
We drove further into Austin and had a little bit of a hard time finding parking. There were several artist booths with items for sale ranging from food to jewelry and clothes. We found a couple of items for Christmas gifts. We wandered around and tried pizza from Home Slice and ice cream from Amy’s. We explored this amazing candy store called Big Top Candy Shop. The inside decor was awesome and they had all different types of candy (chocolates, gummies…).
We also saw the Austin Motel’s Winter Wanderland. This must be a fun place to stay. It was close enough to walk to shops and restaurants and had a really cool vibe. They decorated the courtyard (even the pool area!) for Christmas with a lot of trees and garland. Even the prickly pear cacti had ornaments on them! It was really neat to see, super festive.
I did notice as a whole, the part of Austin we were in did a much better job with wearing masks, even outside.
Elfing Around: Adventures of Mini-E Days 16-19
Day 16: Mini-E was found lying on top of the LevelPro.
Day 17: Oops! Didn’t move.
Day 18: Hiding behind the TV. Both kids told me it was creepy. Will said something along the lines of “this isn’t a horror show”, so I guess no more peeking out from thin openings. 😂
Day 19: Left a game. Maybe as an apology for yesterday?
Drive Through Nativity
Although we certainly do not miss the Ohio winters, there is something about snow and lights that get you in the holiday spirit. There are not a lot of Christmas lights or decorations up at the campground yet, just our lights and two other RVs. It certainly doesn’t feel like Christmas time yet, even with our River Walk experience.
After searching online, we found a few Covid safe events. Our first event was a free one at a local church, a live drive through Nativity.
It was only held one weekend and had quite the line to get in. The church had its own app which had a music track. If you didn’t have the app, they also offered a CD for you to borrow for the car. They had their own radio station playing a live broadcast as well.
The story began with the three wise men and their three camels. These were the only animals we saw, the rest of the “live” was from the people. The town setting of Bethlehem was really neat (although I only saw 1 person wearing a mask in the scene). At the end there was even an actual baby for Jesus! The scenes, props, and costumes were quite elaborate.
New eBook Out Now: ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Campground Edition by Ben Tepe
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!)
Warm holiday wishes and safe travels y’all!
~Ben Tepe
There Was An Elf Spotted In The Campground (You’ve Been Elfed)!
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.
You can find the free Elfed printable here.
*Affiliate link
Fredericksburg, Texas: Christmas Lights & A German Christmas Pyramid
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.
VIDEO: 55 Nights of Fredericksburg Lights and Driving Through Town