This was our year for Harrison family Christmas and it was our first year to do it at the lake.
We went down a couple days before and had visions of cutting down our own Christmas tree but all the tree farms are closed that late in December (bummer) so, we stopped on our way in at Lowes and totally lucked out because they gave us 2 trees for free (winning!)
Kinley picked one and Ty picked one in the front room and one in the sun room.
It really put us in the Christmas spirit having a fire every day and night and getting the house all decorated for the occasion.
I asked Kinley and Ty to pose while they were setting up the second tree stand and in a flash Kinley dropped into this pose. Love that girl.
I think one of the best things about the lake is just having time to relax and decompress.
Especially in the winter.
There is nothing really to do.
No lake activities to partake in, no television or internet at the house, no working or phone calls really. There's just no schedule and nothing planned.
It might drive me crazy after a while but for a few days, it is like pushing reset and just taking life down a notch.
It's awesome.
We spend a lot of time just being together, talking, meal prepping, and coloring...
No we really did all sit down and color once but, our true passion is lots of playing cards.
We play pinochle like crazy in the Harrison family.
All of Cheryl's family knows how to play and every holiday we play for hours on end at every spare moment pretty much.
Mendy and I didn't learn until we were married to the boys but, we have taken a liking to it just as much as the Cheryl, Alex and Ben.
I am not trying to rub it in, but seriously, Mendy and I can beat those boys almost every game :)
Gary has been a different story though.
For over 30 years they have tried to convince Gary to play pinochle but he always turned them down. But, this year, we finally convinced him to play and he learned and loved it!
We are so glad to have Gary in the rotation.
Being away on Christmas meant missing Christmas Eve service at church and I was having a really hard time with that. But, everyone made my dreams come true and we had our own little service in the living room where we read the Christmas story and lit candles and sang Silent Night.
It was a dream.
Santa and his elves also came to the lake! We knew they would because we spread reindeer food on the front lawn and had a big sign in the yard that said "Santa stop here!"
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It was pretty cool for Kinley and Ty to wake up to see Santa hadn't forgotten them at the lakehouse. They were really excited about it!
Kinley's favorite toy was her Barbie camper. She was thrilled to get it! And no joke...I think Ty was most excited about getting some new playdoh. But, his scooter was pretty cool too.
Dylan was quite taken with his new activity mat.
Ty liked it too
And everyone else made out pretty well...
They had some favorite new outfits from Christmas too. Kinley's was her "workout clothes" and Ty's was his new Thomas footie pjs. He is currently in a pajama obsession phase right now.
It was cold outside most days but almost everyday Mendy and I went for a walk or run and the boys built a fire in the fire pit. And the kids played in the leaves.
At what age does it become not fun to jump in a big pile of leaves?
It makes me sad that I get itchy just thinking about it.
How fun to be a kid.
Even though we weren't too busy, these kids played hard and for real...Ty just leaned over and fell asleep for a nap like this, standing on his feet.
It was pretty impressive.
We all got matching Christmas pj pants and Mendy Kaye Designs shirts and had to take some family pics.
Merry Christmas from the Harrisons!
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