I always dreamed of going away for the holidays, just our family of five, but until 2018, I never had the guts to do it.
I made up all of the reasons NOT to go:
the kids need to be in their beds for Santa;
we’d miss a white, winter Christmas;
my parents would be disappointed;
holiday travel is too much hassle and too much money;
Blah, blah, blah, the list goes on and on!
But this year, I decided to toss out the excuses and give it a try. You never know if you will succeed until you try.
So, we packed up and went to Maui! We flew out on Christmas Eve. Yep: NO Santa! We arrived home on New Year’s Day. Hawaii was a 70-degree difference from Montana (no wonder I always wanted to go?!). And guess what? We LOVED it. All the reasons to not go were far less important than the reasons to go. And, the lessons we learned are priceless.
So, I give you, “Maui for Christmas”:
1. We didn’t miss the food or gifts.
2. I didn’t miss all the preparation.
3. I didn’t miss the snow.
4. The kids LOVED it and didn’t complain once about being away from home or missing gifts.
5. We didn’t scare off our friends (without kids) who traveled with us. Yep, we spent every day with them.
6. Whale watching was incredible.
7. I need veggies and a detox.
8. Kolie made more friends in seven days than most people make in a year. Everyone knew her and nicknamed her “Montana” or “Rockstar.”
9. The pool bar in Maui needs a few lessons from Mexico on service.
10. Red-eye flights suck; I’m too old.
11. All 3 girls are awesome travelers.
12. We are already counting down the days until spring break.
13. I’m grateful for the means and the time to make this happen.
14. I missed my bed.
15. I’ve done 10 loads of laundry in 24 hours.
16. Memories are priceless: they won't remember the gifts, but they always remember the trips.
17. Papa got over it. ;)
18. This may be our new tradition: experiences over things, every single year.
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