Filed under: Entertaining Kids at Camp, Holidays on the Road, Holidays on the Road
May you all have a Blessed Christmas, no matter where the season finds you…
December 24, 2012 by Dana Ticknor · 8 Comments
This year will be our fourth year celebrating Christmas in an RV; the 3rd in this particular 5er. And we couldn’t be happier about it. While we no longer have the 8′ tree, or the strings of lights outlining the rooftop, or the fancy Christmas dinner with a dozen sides like in the sticks n’ bricks, Christmas still holds the same wonder. Sure, we have had to make some changes in how we celebrate, due to our compact abode, but we are finding that we prefer many of our altered traditions.
In the RV, we don’t go all out decorating, mostly because we don’t have room to haul decorations around with us (we still love to look at other RVer’s lights!), but we do have a small tree that the kids decorate, and we trim the slides with garland and small colorful balls. We don’t buy gifts based so much on money and number anymore as we do size, and we now prefer ‘experiences’ over physical stuff. We no longer cook on the same scale as we did in our house, but we do still cover pretzels in almond bark, make fudge, and bake some cookies and pies.
This year, thanks to traveling, we will be instituting a new Christmas food tradition. Some of the first stops that we made when we began traveling, were to visit family that we had not seen in years. We tried all sorts of new foods in new regions, including when ‘Aunt’ Carol (who is from E. TX) made gumbo for us. Gumbo quickly became one of our favorite foods, and patient Aunt Carol taught my DD Beth and I how to make it. We decided that gumbo was worthy of becoming a Christmas Eve tradition in our ‘house’. A tradition that we would not have if we did not travel (and we couldn’t afford to travel without our RV!). So, thanks to RVing, we will be enjoying yummy southern gumbo, in the in cozily decorated 400 sq. ft. of our rolling home tonight as we celebrate the eve of the birth of our Savior.
This year we asked the kids where they wanted to be over Christmas. After all, this house has wheels for a reason, and we use those wheels! 
The kids chose, unanimously, to spend the holiday at one of our favorite RV parks in Texas. I suppose that a lot of details factor into their choice, but it was ultimately made based on the many happy memories that we have of our visit to this park last year. We met a fabulous family that we really connected with, the fishing here is fabulous, and the staff was phenomenal. Doesn’t hurt that this park is in pecan country, so we have been enjoying picking pecans; we did that our first Christmas on the road, which was also spent in Texas!
The kids chose, unanimously, to spend the holiday at one of our favorite RV parks in Texas. I suppose that a lot of details factor into their choice, but it was ultimately made based on the many happy memories that we have of our visit to this park last year. We met a fabulous family that we really connected with, the fishing here is fabulous, and the staff was phenomenal. Doesn’t hurt that this park is in pecan country, so we have been enjoying picking pecans; we did that our first Christmas on the road, which was also spent in Texas!We find that no matter where we go, it’s the people that make or break the location for us – that is especially true for RV parks, and in this case, where we spend Christmas. We are tickled to be spending our 4th Christmas season in our tiny, mobile, home. The park that we are staying at will be having a potluck for Christmas dinner. We love potlucks, and while we won’t be attending this one (Christmas with 10 kids still at home is a pretty full day! LOL!), we will be spending part of this Christmas Eve making a tray of treats to send to the activity center, making paper snowflakes to decorate the windows, and emphasizing that we are celebrating Jesus’ birthday.
I hope that this Christmas finds you surrounded by friends and family. For us, we are always surrounded by family (there are 12 of us in 400 sq. ft. LOL!), but here we are also surrounded by friends. Most are new friends, some are old friends (you know, staff from the 2 weeks we spent here last year. hehehe!), but all will be part of the memories that our family is making.
I hope that your Christmas celebrations are also friend and family filled, and centered around The Reason for the Season. Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours.
I hope that your Christmas celebrations are also friend and family filled, and centered around The Reason for the Season. Merry CHRISTmas from our family to yours.Last 5 posts by Dana Ticknor
- De Soto National Memorial, Florida... - February 13th, 2013
- Moundville Archaeological Park, near Tuscaloosa, AL... - January 31st, 2013
- Vicksburg National Military Park, MS... - January 29th, 2013
- Modding your RV - think outside the box... - January 22nd, 2013
- Arkansas Post National Monument, AR... - January 16th, 2013
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Where is the park in Texas, the fishing sounded good. MERRY CHRISTMAS
Where is the park in Texas, the fishing sounded good. MERRY CHRISTMAS
I enjoyed reading your post. having liveed in a 34 ft 5th wheel for 3 months at a time, I am wondering how you sleep 12 people? Also, where is park in Texas? We would love the pecans! Merry Christmas to you and yours.
A WONDERFUL COMMENT ON LIVING FREE AND INCLUDING WEST TEXAS IN IT;.
MAY YOUR DAY BE MERRY & BRIGHT AND ENJOY YOUR STAY IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD! COME BACK ANY TIME!
Hi June,
We are able to sleep 12 in our toy hauler due to the fact that it has a loft and we built custom bunks in the garage area.
The park that we are currently in is Colorado River RV Park, but we have also picked pecans all around Whitney Lake, which is SW of DFW.
Thanks Butterbean!
We love your neighborhood!
And Shirley, we are just N of Columbus, TX, fishing in the Colorado River. In TX, out of state fishing licenses are only $68, and that includes a salt water endorsement…we thought that was a pretty good deal (especially since our kiddos 17 and under don't have to have licenses!). I'll be putting pictures up on our blog before too long…
http://ticknortribe.com/.
Hi June,
We are able to sleep 12 in our toy hauler due to the fact that it has a loft and we built custom bunks in the garage area.
The park that we are currently in is Colorado River RV Park, but we have also picked pecans all around Whitney Lake, which is SW of DFW.
Thanks Butterbean!
We love your neighborhood!
And Shirley, we are just N of Columbus, TX, fishing in the Colorado River. In TX, out of state fishing licenses are only $68, and that includes a salt water endorsement…we thought that was a pretty good deal (especially since our kiddos 17 and under don't have to have licenses!). I'll be putting pictures up on our blog before too long…
http://ticknortribe.com/.
Hi June,
We are able to sleep 12 in our toy hauler due to the fact that it has a loft and we built custom bunks in the garage area.
The park that we are currently in is Colorado River RV Park, but we have also picked pecans all around Whitney Lake, which is SW of DFW.
Thanks Butterbean!
We love your neighborhood!
And Shirley, we are just N of Columbus, TX, fishing in the Colorado River. In TX, out of state fishing licenses are only $68, and that includes a salt water endorsement…we thought that was a pretty good deal (especially since our kiddos 17 and under don't have to have licenses!). I'll be putting pictures up on our blog before too long…
http://ticknortribe.com/.
Wonderful story. How can you fit 12 people in the RV full-time?
Merry Christmas!