My parents decided their gift to my immediate family was the gift of a family vacation, in Utah!! The last family trip we took was to Big Bear for Thanksgiving about 5 years ago.
It was so fun to go somewhere new all together and actually have some down time to do nothing (or something!) together.
We all had our own rooms and settled in around 4 p.m. We had a whole evening to relax and we ordered pizza for dinner. We also discovered their liquor stores are indeed closed on Sundays. Not to worry, we had enough drinks to last us the night haha.
We opened belated birthday presents for my niece since we didn't get together for her birthday as a family. She turned 11, and now she wants gifts from Sephora! Where does the time go?
I had premade my Grandma's Moist Lemon Fruitcake so my dad could enjoy it while we were up there. We had mostly planned on a very laid back trip an not exploring much. We were hoping, weather permitting, we could do some of the snowy/cold activities but sadly we could not.
We considered these things but didn't have the chance to see:
Midway Ice Castles - ice slides, sculptures, caves, tunnels, and sleigh rides
Gallivan Center Ice Rink - ice skating
Snowed Inn Sleigh Company - for horse drawn sleigh rides
World of Illumination - drive through light show for $50 a car
We figured, when in Utah, get some soda. I am not a big soda girl but I can see the appeal of this being a little fun and quick treat. I got some orange flavor that was actually really good, it reminded me of sherbet. We joked maybe we would run into one of the Mormon Wives, but they probably go to Swig.
We went to Splash, in, what felt like, a random gas station/car wash and it also had a drive through. Very cute, not expensive, and I got a cute little straw topper!
We didn't have much planned just to wander around and see what local spots we could see, especially during the holidays. We stopped to see the Pony Express Historic Trail located inside This is the Place Heritage Park. It was $7 for a self-guided tour of Heritage Village but we opted to not go.
We spent most of our days bundled up inside binge watching shows and movie together. We also got two puzzles done! It was so nice to disconnect and relax.
Our Airbnb also had a massage chair, that apparently retails for $14k. It was the cherry on top. It literally got rid of a knot I have had in my shoulder for ages. Truly a relaxing vacation.
My mom also got us all fuzzy Christmas socks that we all wore throughout the trip, I wish we had gotten a cute pic of them!
Some of the days my brother and his family went snowboarding at a few local resorts. He went to Brighton and Snowbird, he said Snowbird was a lot better than Brighton! We thought about meeting them at Snowbird and riding the gondolas but it turns out it was $50 a person, so it really didn't seem worth it.
I spent Christmas Eve assembling my dads birthday cake and watching more movies on the couch. We also had lunch at Bandits, which was really good. My niece and nephew each have their elf on a shelf and they got their last message to them. We learned the elves stop coming on Christmas Eve because they report back to Santa on Christmas Day. They were very excited about the silly message the elves left.
Christmas Eve evening we went to see the street lights. This street was lined with lit up trees on Michigan Ave. I was thinking it would be a sort of "basic" thing, not as spectacular as the drive through experiences but it was honestly really fun and brought up the holiday mood being around so many people coming for the same thing.
I was also loving all the homes on this street. They were so beautiful and cozy. The other nice thing about this neighborhood is they collect donations for several different charities, and they change every year!
We also baked our cookies for Santa and decorated them before bed. The night before Christmas is so cute with kids. I was very excited to wake up on Christmas morning with kiddos! Getting to experience all the excitement of kids on Christmas without all the stress, highly recommend lol.
We of course watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, as well as 8 Bit Christmas (one of my new favorite Christmas movies).
Christmas morning we enjoyed the famous TikTok cinnamon rolls with coffee and watched Elf before opening presents.
After presents I made Matty's Sausage Rolls, which I slightly over baked because I totally forgot about them in the chaos of presents. Nonetheless, they were still yummy enough!
Before the night ended, we sang happy birthday to my dad and ended the night with some birthday cake! He wanted a chocolate raspberry cake with buttercream frosting. It was so yummy and the perfect night cap!
We had one more day in Utah after Christmas and we spent it relaxing and watching movies (shocker). We also finished the second puzzle and started packing up so our early morning wasn't as intensive.
Just like that, our trip was over and we were heading home! It took a whopping 12 hours to get home and it was 3 hours more than it should have taken, so that was painful. I watched the Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life and left the finale for when I got home. I immediately wanted to binge watch from the beginning all over again. Can't believe it was my first time watching it.
So glad I washed my sheets before leaving, there is nothing like coming home to a clean room and cozy bed.
I hope you found this post a lil helpful if you're planning a family Christmas vacation and are in need of cozy inspo or things to do in Utah!
If you want to see more from our trip check it out on my Instagram and TikTok! @catchthewavewithsam
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