Happy New Year, dear Camping with Five Kids blog readers. I hope you, too, have Christmas memories to cherish from this past holiday season.
We wanted to give our grandsons, 7 and 4, something different for Christmas this year. So, we created a puzzle. Each boy received the puzzle, piece by wrapped piece. Now this wasn’t any ordinary puzzle. This puzzle came from Santa!
It was not the first puzzle Santa had created for our family. No. Years ago, he created one for our young children. They, too, opened the wooden puzzle piece by piece to assemble a message telling our family that we were going to Disney World for a short vacation. You can find the post about our adventures in Disney World here.
Santa is clever like that. He knows who is learning to read and who is seeking adventure with the family.
This past Christmas, it was our grandson Jonathan learning how to read. And Santa knew how the boys had already “camped” with Nana and Mommy in a pup tent in the woods in our backyard one summer. We had flashlights and told silly shadow stories on the tent ceiling. The giggles shook the tent and kept us awake most of the night.
So, Jonathan and Brian worked diligently to put all the pieces of the puzzle together. Once they did, the boys found they had a note from Santa. His elves must have cut up the short note glued to a board into the pieces the boys would unwrap. Jonathan used the pictures as clues and sounded out the words to read of an adventure the whole family would share with their grandparents. Yes! Us.
The first words out of the boys’ mouths were: “Now?”
I looked outside the living room windows at the snow and ice on Christmas day. The fire crackled in our fireplace, warming all the love in the room. Our stuffed turkey dinner roasting in the oven, filling the house with delicious smells.
“No, boys,” I said. “The campground is not open in the winter.” I hated to disappoint them. “But Santa told me we could do it in the spring, summer, or fall. Whenever you guys have time. It gives us something to look forward to next year.”
Giving our children or grandchildren an adventure to look forward to is a good idea. Whether it is passing along the joys of camping as a family to the next generation or simply planning a family trip together. In this world of instant gratification, it’s important to give our children the gift of anticipation. Of course, it is always a good idea to check with the parents first to get their feelings on these kinds of surprises. What do you think about surprising the children with a gift of time and adventure? Have you ever given someone a gift of a trip together? Please share in the comments here at Camping with Five Kids.
May your 2026 be full of family adventures, whether camping or otherwise. God bless you in the new year.