A Very Unconventional Thanksgiving
The holidays are about family, friends and tradition. Every Thanksgiving my family gets in our old, trusty, RV and drives down to San Felipe, Mexico to camp on the beach with eight other close families under a huge “palapa”. The kids spend the week away from anything “electronic” and play board games, beach volleyball, build forts, quad riding, canoeing, rocket launching and lots of card playing. A “palapa” is a large thatched open-sided structure and this is a picture of ours with my son skateboarding underneath.
We cook all our meals together in the outdoor kitchen and take turns hosting and cooking dinners. We start each day with a walk on the deserted beach collecting sand dollars and seashells. Here is a photo of me and my 13 year old son.
While some of us walk, others choose to go riding on their quads and motorcycles as you can see in the distance of this deserted beach.
In the afternoon, we go clamming which is a favorite activity for the kids because of the reward of fresh clams in butter, garlic and wine. Look at this girls wonderful smile while digging through the sand!
On Thanksgiving, each family is responsible for preparing one thing for the meal. My specialty is desert and I do a crunchy apple crisp that the kids love to help me make!
My Thanksgiving isn’t about pretty tables, dishes or centerpieces…but that may be a part of the reason it’s so special to me!
Thanksgiving under the palapa
In the evenings, we just sit and watch the beach turn many colors of pink. Below is a photo of our view and the blue tarp is one of the forts the kids build during that week.
At night, we crank up the music and dance like no one’s watching or sit around a campfire and tell stories.
Why do I share my Thanksgiving with you? Because I know yours is filled with special traditions too. Memories in the making and blessings to be counted.