Family Tradition: Christmas In July!!

Our family is quite, er, extended.  My loved ones span from Van, TX to Houston, to Nashville.  And while I'm so thankful and blessed to have such a large, amazing family, I used to begin stressing over who we were going to spend the holidays with, um, around October 1st every year.  I'm talking tears people.  I would cry because I wanted to see everyone, and not hurt anyone's feelings, and not miss out on my uncle acting like a fool at the Christmas Eve party, and what about my sisters and my mom?, and oh yeah, I have to include my husband's family in that mix now too, because I love them all, and we have so much fun on Thanksgiving staying up all night cooking, and whew!  It was exhausting!

So in 2009, my Dad and Step-Mom, being the creative and thoughtful teachers they are, came up with a new family tradition for the Crawford's.  They knew the holidays were busy and stressful for all of us "kids", so from that year on, we would start celebrating our Crawford family Christmas in July!

We were leery of the new tradition at first, I will admit.  Comments included, but were not limited to the following:
"Really?  We are committing to spending 4th of July with you guys, like, forever? (eye roll) I mean, what are we going to do in Hide-Away for a whole weekend?"
and "Don't you realize that's a HUGE lake weekend in Austin?"

But despite our hesitation, we decided to try it out.  And since my parents are incapable of half-way doing ANYTHING, when we arrived at the house for our 1st annual Christmas in July, I wasn't at all surprised to see holiday decorations covering my childhood home, including an ornament adorned Christmas tree and yard decor!  It was pretty funny!

They also set some rules for our new family tradition: (Here they are, in case you would like to start your own!)

• Hand Made- All gifts that we brought must be hand made or "passed down".   The "kids" can not buy gifts for anyone
• Theme Gifts and Meals- gifts given by the parents may or may not be based on a theme (EX: one year the theme was: As seen on TV).  Also, each year a different couple is in charge of a meal theme of their choice. (Ex: BBQ, Mexican, Swedish, etc.)
• White Envelope: Every year my dad reads this story, and we all cry, then open our own white envelopes that were placed on the tree.  If you get a chance, read the origin of this amazing tradition of thinking of others and giving back during the holiday season.  
• The Gold Box- Each couple receives a gold box that holds our "big gift" of the year.  But the only way you get the Gold Box, is to come to Christmas in July.  If you can't make it, you are out of luck.  And trust me people, after that first year, we realized that we NEVER wanted to miss out on the Gold Box :)
• Activities- There will be activities planned for the weekend, and while we would love for you to participate in all of them, you are not required to. (Again, my parents are teachers, so our first three years were full of scavenger hunts, ornament making, golf, zip-lining, and watching fireworks)
• Cousin's Camp (for the future)- When/if grand babies come along, when it comes time to leave at the end of 4th of July weekend, the grand kids get to stay behind for the following week to give mom and dad a break be completely and thoroughly spoiled by their grand parents.  (This one merited another eye roll and eyebrows raised on our part)

Here are some pics from the first 3 years of Christmas in July (Please note the ridiculous shirts that my parents had made for us.  I'm well aware of the fact that we look like a bowling team.  The next year, Justin and I were in charge of the shirts, and the following year we were able to talk them out of it completely, THANK GOD!)

2009

2010

2011

In 2012 we talked my parents in having a "Destination Christmas in July: New Braunfels".  It was such a BLAST!  There were no decorations and no gifts, but the Christmas spirit was in our hearts :)  We went to Gruene Hall, Schlitterbahn, put our butts in the river, and chilled in the hot tub.  Perfect 4th of July weekend!

2012

Which brings us to this year!  "Destination Christmas in July: San Diego" Since my brother, Rik, lives in San Diego, it was only fair that we give him a break, and fly to visit his fabulous city!  Can I just say...if I couldn't live in Austin, I would want to live in San Diego!  That place is absolutely AMAZING, and I was already planning trips to come back in my head before we had even left!  It didn't hurt that the house we stayed in was KILLER AWESOME!  And since the minimum you could rent the home for was a week (aw, shucks), we got to spend 6 fabulous days soaking in the California sun and visiting with my crazy family.  We spent the majority of our time hanging out in the oasis that was our back yard, but we also enjoyed bike riding to Mission Beach, laying on the Beach, cooking a TON, and playing cards.  It was perfect.

Merry Christmas, Yall!  It just keeps getting better :)  

'Till next year!!

The beautiful backyard at our beach house!

2013

Life's a Beach: Cobb Family Vacation!

I'm aware of the fact that the norm for relationships with in-law's is usually...well...cordial.  I, however, have hit the family jackpot with mine :)  I consider my mother-in-law, Judy, and sister-in-law, Nicole, not only family, but two of my dear friends.  And I absolutely ADORE the rest of the family too.  Therefore, whenever the opportunity arises for us to take a family vacation I'm ecstatic!

Love her <3

So at the end of June, I hopped a plane from Tennessee, straight to Houston to join the Cobb/Hrabovsky/Walsh family for a week in Galveston!  Our beach house was precious and perfect in every way.  It seemed like the owners had hired a large family of rowdy kids and crazy adults to stay at their vacation house and said, "Tell us everything you would want/need to have the perfect vacation."  And then they added all the things!  Everything from perfectly placed hooks to hang stuff on, to every gadget, nick-knack, and appliance you could ever ask for.  Trust me.  If you ever go to Galveston, you want to stay here!  They even turned the master bedroom into a kids' paradise full of bunk beds and video games!
(P.S. if this is a real job, I would like to apply!)

I didn't take any pics that would do the house justice, so here it the link to the photos and rental info from VRBO.  Check it OUT!

We had a wonderful, relaxing week full of lazing around at the beach, eating and drinking everything in sight, bonfires, and playing with Baby Madison.  My sweet brother-in-law Gavin and nephews Richard and Daniel kept us on our toes and we were constantly laughing.  I forgot what it was like to be in a house full of boys, so it brought back memories of living with my brothers...except I didn't fight with Richard, Daniel and Gavin and constantly try to get them in trouble.  Justin brought a sombrero (don't ask), so the boys made the choice to refer to him as "Manuel" for the entire trip.  I laughed out loud every time, because I'm obviously 10 years old.

Our house was a 2 min. walk to the water, so we literally had a mini compound set up on the beach.  Think 4 huge tents connected to each other and filled with a multitude of coolers, chairs, beach toys, streamers and towels, complete with a baby pool and Massive Sand Castle the size of a Prius.  Seriously.  I'm confident that when people walked by, they were jealous! Or thought we were homeless and lived on the beach.  

This girl holds my heart!

Bonfire, compound, and a little fishing

Fun on the beach!

The Beginnings of the compound-The Beginnings of the sandcastle-Part of the family
(Notice the streamer.  Seriously people.  We were not playing around.)

One of Judy's main goals on this vacation was to take family pictures one evening, right around sunset so the lighting would be perfect.  Unfortunately we herded the cats assembled the troops about 30 min. too early.  Luckily everyone (but me) was able to adjust their eyes accordingly to deal with the sun.  I, however, resemble a pirate in approximately 100% of the photos taken, with one eye either half-way or completely closed at all times.  Awesome.  Also, I'm not sure why, but in situations like this that involve large groups, I automatically go into frantic "Teacher on picture day" mode, shouting commands like, "Walk that way and turn around and look at the camera!" or, "Put your hand on her shoulder...no not like that, like this!"  I moved people to where I thought they should be standing and at one point I may or may not have licked my finger and removed a smudge from a grown adult's face.  (And then after all that I was the kid that ruined the picture.)  But the pictures turned out great! Mission Accomplished!

Argh!

Wild Crew

This was one of my favorites!  Madison just happened to look over just at the right time!

Thank you Judy and Andrew for a fantastic Family Vacation!  I look forward to many more in the future!  I'm ending this post with two pictures we took right before we left.  These are the most special to me because all week long, Madison wouldn't let Justin or me hold her-AT ALL.  Then, right before we walked out the door, by the grace of God, she suddenly was ok with it!  Love this girl so much!!