Every few years, our family of five eschews traditional gift-giving at Christmas time. Instead, we gather in some far-off location where we can just be with each other without the distractions of errands, other friends, or holiday madness.
Epidaurus, Greece
Long before we started this tradition, we carted our kids around the world as they were growing up. When I look back now, I can’t imagine how we herded three children under ten (with suitcases) through the radiating streets around the Arc de Triomphe to catch the rush-hour metro. I am in awe of the mere idea of trekking and camping with five teenagers (our three and two friends) on the Inca Trail. I cringe to remember my 6-year-old pushing and shoving with a friend on the edge of a chasm in the Dart River area of New Zealand. And I have photos to document the times we pulled over to capture some striking scenery and ended up with one boy or another watering the local flora on the side of the road. (T alone has sprinkled five continents, I would guess.) Ten feet out the door was not an excursion for the meek; it was a major production and involved the assembling of a lot more than just people. Back then we had to gather passports, inoculation records, tiny backpacks, snacks – and more often than not, our wits – as we set off for new places.
Serengeti, Tanzania
As the years passed, the kids got busy with activities and college and their own lives, and my husband could never get away as much as I could to travel. I started to travel alone – either completely solo the whole time or just on my own until I met up with a trekking group somewhere. Even as some of my neighbors clucked disapprovingly, I grew to really relish my time alone, and I tried to book at least one and sometimes two trips a year during my work breaks to explore somewhere my husband didn’t care to go.
Iguazu Falls, Argentina
But as much as I enjoy the adventure and peace of wandering the world on my own or in small numbers, the gathering of my brood to travel somewhere new is the greatest gift I can imagine. This year, our gathering spot will be Colombia, and I can’t wait to have our ten feet all together once again!
See some other great takes on the Weekly Photo Challenge here!
One Foot Out the Door 
I am thrilled to see photos of you and your brood! What a childhood they had. So lucky! And what a time you must have all had together. I can’t imagine travelling with one child let alone three. I am in awe! I know a couple who took their kids out of school and lived on a sailboat in the Mediterranean, and home schooled them, for two years.
Have a wonderful time in Colombia. I totally get the wanting to get away from the madness 🙂
Cheers, Alison
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Thank you, Alison! It’s been a great ride – one that I’d like to keep going! These days, I’ve been taking turns with the kids one-on-one – I went with my older son to Iceland, my daughter to Tibet and Eastern Europe, and the youngest to South Africa. I do on occasion also travel with just my husband! More of that to be done upon retirement some day, I hope!
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Your kids are so lucky to have you as a mum! I’m hoping to emulate this with my girl! Merry Xmas to you and yours! X
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Thanks, and same to you! The kids were lucky to have a mom with wanderlust, I suppose, although my youngest once begged us to pleeeaaassse not leave the country for a vacation once in a while! We actually left him at camp in North Carolina one summer when he fussed about the idea of hiking around Mont Blanc. He had a blast with friends and we got to avoid the third hotel room – haha! If you want it for your daughter, you can make it happen! We don’t have fancy cars or clothes or club memberships, but we have some awesome memories!
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Wow Lexi! So amazing to see you and your family! You are so lucky that you’ve traveled so much with your kids. We haven’t done anything really international as we spend so much of our time,
Money and vacation time seeing our extended families. But I hope to do so! Very inspiring and so incredibly wonderful you are spending the season together on vacation!
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Thanks, Nicole! I’ve resisted publishing any photos of myself or my family, but this prompt just begged for a post on our upcoming gathering. I’d also been thinking about a piece on traveling with kids for a while and figured I’d kill two birds with one stone with a few brief words on both topics!
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I loved seeing you and your beautiful family!!! So wonderful Lexi! Can’t wait to hear about your travels!!!
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that’s a really nice concept for a holiday family tradition. i would like to do that with my kid someday, although i don’t know how you managed to do it with three! but material presents aside, i’m sure you’ve given your kids some of the best memories and the best experiences they could ever have in their lifetime, not to mention the values and insights those experiences have formed in them which molded them into the persons they are now. =)
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Thanks! The “gift” of travel seems to have worked! All of our kids enjoy traveling on their own now and – luckier for me – they still enjoy traveling with me (and us). And yes, seeing the best and worst of the world did affect the way they think about life – and that’s a good thing.
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Oooh Columbia. Can’t wait to hear about that. Gorgeous family. I admire your energy. I can’t imagine taking three kids to McDonald’s, let alone all over the world.
Traveling solo is great. It’s better to go alone than drag someone along who doesn’t want to be there. My husband and I also can’t travel together at the moment. We have a special needs pet rabbit who can’t be left with anyone else. So right now I’m also going places he doesn’t want to go. I’m glad I no longer have to deal with the disapproval of such neighbors.
Have a fantastic holiday and I wish you a 2016 filled with adventure!
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Thank you! I am pretty psyched about Colombia (and if things work out right, Nicaragua totally on my own a month later). I spent last winter break in Russia, Finland, and Estonia with my sister, so I’m pretty happy to be going somewhere a bit warmer this year. (I will miss those Christmas markets, though!)
And the pets who hold us back … we have an elderly dog whom we hate to leave. I always joke that as soon all the kids were off on their own, we found ourselves rushing home even more than before to take care of the dog!
You have a great holiday, too, and here’s hoping we both get to some of those still-in-the-background destinations next year!
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This is really great you manage to gather all together this year. I hope you will have a great time !
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Thanks! We are very excited about the trip and I’m sure we will have a blast. Wishing you guys a great holiday as well!
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Thank you !
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What a wonderful take on the challenge. I love this recap of ‘Ten Feet Out The Door’ and seeing your family over the years. So many wonderful memories (even if some of them didn’t seem so ‘wonderful’ and possibly quite scary as you were creating them). While I’ve traveled through most of my life ‘solo’ I have surprisingly found that the greatest memories were created when traveling with others. Have a great time in Columbia!
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Maybe we seek out or find we most enjoy those travel experiences that are unlike our daily lives! When all the kids were at home, I used to crave alone time and if that meant three weeks in China, so be it! Seriously, my favorite travel mode is to be with people all day, have drinks and dinner with people, then go to my room all alone with no people until after breakfast!
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Now that sounds like the perfect balance 😉
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Your post resonated with me.
In our case too, we have been travelling on vacations with our two daughters since their childhood.In fact the younger one does not recall some of the great places she visited when she was small. Most of her memories about those travels are based on the carefully collated photo albums that I have been maintaining! But I suppose that remains part of the fun.
Shakti
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Sorry for the belated reply … we were gallivanting in Colombia! Our kids are like yours – not always clear on places we visited when they were very small, with their memories needing prompting by photos and old journals. Having just returned, I can tell you that sometimes children are easier! Young adults have too many opinions of their own – haha!
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Lexie, Terri and I don’t have kids and have always traveled on our own. And I must admit that I’m always in awe of parents that travel with their young children – especially when there are10 feet. I can’t imagine the stamina and perseverance that it must have taken to pull it off, and I’m sure that your kids appreciate it for the tremendous effort that it took. It must have made a huge, positive impact on them and taught them some excellent life lessons. Bravo to you and your husband for being the great parents you are. Terri and I wish you and your family all the best for 2016. ~James
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James, your comments are very kind! I’m sure we have fallen down on many counts as parents, but I do think they better understand what is going on in this often-wonderful and sometimes-troubling world than they would have otherwise. Or at least they have seen it more first-hand. It was a challenge at times but also very, very fun; I’m finding now that I need all three kinds of trips – solo, partner (whether it’s a husband, one kid, sister, etc), and group! If only I had more time and money …!
I’m sure your travels with Terri have bonded you in ways that others cannot replicate, and I am envious of that. Happy 2016 to you both as well!
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Love Love Love this post! What a beautiful family you have, and you are so very inspiring! Exactly the little booster as we are booking our European tour for this spring, and I was wondering if adding 3 days in Italy was reasonable ..Cheers to more family gatherings, travels and beautiful adventures ! Happy New year to you all X
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Thank you and Happy New Year to you! I wish I could go back sometimes to those early days of traveling with pliable kids who go where you want them to go and do what you want them to do! I’m sure you will have a blast on your European tour this spring; we found Europe the best place to start because the infrastructure challenges are not as great. Heck, if you can live in the Philippines with two toddlers, you can handle anything – talk about inspiring!
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What an inspiring post, Lex. Your kids are so lucky to have experienced so much and have seen so many places in the world. I’m sure it has made them see the world of differences as normal and beautiful. Thanks for sharing photos of your beautiful family too.
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I hope I have accomplished what you said in the middle: that the kids see the world of differences as something good! I think they do, and that is partly due to their opportunity to see different cultures and ways of life and partly generational.
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I’m quite sure you did. You exposed them very early on in their lives to the normality of differences. What a privilege. Be proud.
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