I want to thank all of you who commented (and wished me a great vacation) on my Christmas in June vacation post. I can assure you that your wishes were met … in fact I would call this a dream vacation. All four of our children, along with spouses, one fiance’ and all three grandchildren stayed in a fabulous beachfront house on Topsail Island, North Carolina. My Jan and I are so blessed to have children who authentically enjoy each others company. We dug in the sand, walked on the beach, swam in the ocean, took a deep sea fishing trip, ate lots of good food and laughed nearly non stop.
You might recall that the premise of this trip was to forgo our annual Christmas gift exchange in order to create memories (see Rethinking Our Family Christmas Gift Exchange). I can emphatically affirm that our experiment was a rousing success and that we are already planning next year’s Christmas in June.
My son Jeremy (who produced the stop motion video Eliza … you must take time to watch this if you haven’t … it has had over 50,000 views! ) also produced a three minute video of our vacation, labeling it Eliza’s First Vacation. If you think you spotted pig tails on our star, you did. By the way, I am the guy who swept Eliza up off the beach before she decided to eat that shell. You iPhone buffs will appreciate knowing that Jeremy recorded all of the footage on his iPhone.
Well, I have said enough. Take three minutes to enjoy our memories with us. You won’t regret it.
And you might decide to start creating memories instead of buying stuff.
Why does it take so long to realize that memories and experiences are much more important than things? My happiest times had nothing to do with money! It was family doing something together and enjoying ourselves.
Sounds like you had a really good time. I am glad to hear that. It will be nice to have these lovely memories to reflect on.
@krantcents,
Great question! Maybe people are just afraid to live life and enjoy themselves. Or maybe they equate money with happiness. At any rate, I, like you, can say that my happiest times are family activities — priceless!
@Miss T,
Yes, we did indeed have a really good time. I appreciate your kind words.
Memories with family are priceless, material prizes just can’t compare. As I get older and wiser each year – or so I hope anyway – this becomes more clear.
You’re lucky to have adult kids who get along great with each other, and are able to have lots of laughs and a relaxing good time. Hope things transpire that way for me, way off in the future!
That video is awesome! Looks like you had a great time Joe. Memories with family are priceless. All the good things I remember in my life are memories.
@Squirrelers,
Yes, we are very fortunate to have adult children who are not only siblings but great friends. I hope you too will experience that blessing…someday.
@Suba,
My son Jeremy is quite artistic…he takes after his mom! 🙂
If you haven’t seen the Eliza video he produced, take time to watch it. It spans 9 months in about 4 minutes…using over 1000 still photos.
And yes, memories with family are priceless.
what a pleasure joe it was so nice to see your vacation on the the clip! it is actually li ke meeting your wonderful family!
thats exchange idea is great!
The video is awesome! Precious memories with your family and loved ones are the best memory of all! Good point: “And you might decide to start creating memories instead of buying stuff.” Thanks for reminding us Joe! 🙂
@Jenna — Thanks!
@dido — the video did indeed capture much of my family’s personality. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
@Shannon — Thanks for the “awesome” description of the video. Jeremy, the video creator, had the music selected and ideas for the video production before we ever took our vacation. He did much of the editing on our return trip (14 hour drive) and had it posted on his Facebook page by the next day after getting home.
I’m glad you took my “reminder” in the way I intended. I didn’t want to sound bossy.
Great times!