Christmas in an RV

Traditions

If you have known me for any length of time, you know that Christmas is a BIG deal in my life. Ever since we married 19 years ago, I have been setting out our Christmas traditions. Once we began having children, our traditions became even more important to me. Yes, I understand that Christmas is truly NOT about traditions, but about celebrating the birth of Jesus our Lord and Savior. My children, especially, enjoy our family traditions and I believe they will probably continue with their families. Here are some of our traditions:

• We decorate for Christmas the first Saturday of November.
• At some point between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we go ice skating.
• The week before Christmas all of our children gather for a huge baking day.
• We attend Christmas Eve service at church.
• After Christmas Eve service, we ride around to look at Christmas lights together.
• My children receive Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve.
• We gather on Christmas morning for brunch and presents

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Over the last couple of years, our children have been getting older, getting married, and moving out on their own. Our kids are currently 20, 18, 17, & 17 for reference. Things have begun to change in our Christmas traditions. This year is no different. Since last Christmas, we have moved into our RV full time. There’s no room for the lavish Christmas decorations of years past. There’s no room for massive cooking days where we would fill 2-3 tables FULL of sweets and goodies. As a matter of fact, this may be the last year that we all spend Christmas together in middle Georgia. We plan to winter in FL, TX, or the southwest from now on. 

In the RV

We have decorated for Christmas, just on a much smaller scale. We will still make our annual pilgrimage to go ice skating. I’m positive we will still have some sort of “baking” day, but smaller and with far less baking involved. My kids love my fudge, chocolate no-bake oatmeal cookies, chocolate covered cherries, peppermint patties, and of course, my famous chocolate chip cookies. Christmas Eve will still consist of church service, opening their Christmas pajamas and a ride around to look at Christmas lights. 

One thing that I had not realized was so important to my children was my Christmas morning gorilla bread. In case you are unaware of what gorilla bread is, it’s blocks of cream cheese rolled in cinnamon and sugar placed in yeast rolls. The yeast roll balls are then rolled in cinnamon and sugar with homemade butterscotch sauce and walnuts. It is typically baked on a tube or bundt pan. When we moved into the camper, my tube pan didn’t make the cut of kitchen items that got moved. It’s just so big and bulky. My kids mentioned on Thanksgiving that they absolutely could not wait until gorilla bread this year. I let them know that I had not planned on making it this year and they quickly let me know that that was completely unacceptable. Maybe I will need to do a trial run to see if I can fit it in a loaf pan or two this year. 

Gifts

What about gifts? Practice minimalism. We have been doing this for the past several years as our children were getting older. My kids are S-P-O-I-L-E-D year round! There just hasn’t been much that they’ve needed or wanted come Christmas. On top of the annual pajamas, our kids usually receive smelly bath stuff, gift card,s and an experience/trip. For the past few years, their grandparents have given them season passes to a theme park of their choice. A museum membership would be a great thing too. If your children are little, I love this idea.

Wether you are in a large home or an RV, Christmas traditions can still happen. They may have to be scaled back some, but it is definitely doable. Get outside your camper and the box! Find things to do and make new traditions that your family will look forward to for years in the future.

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