Show Us Your Life-Christmas Traditions

I always LOVE the weekly Show Us Your Life over at Kelly's Korner and thought that I would participate myself this week! My family has a TON of traditions (I'm warning you now...some are kinda weird haha) so here are a few of them:

• When I was little I used to be OBSESSED with Babar the Elephant so my mom bought a cardboard cutout of him for my Babar birthday party. Now I have no idea how this started but my mom would always put out the cutout on Christmas Eve and when "Santa" would come "he" would put a bell on Babar's trunk. Kinda weird but we still have kept it up!
• We always open a Christmas present each on Christmas Eve.
  
• When decorating the tree my mom always hides a pickle ornament and whoever finds it gets to open their presents first.
• Before Christmas my mom and I always make Holiday Cookies together, and for Christmas my mom always buys her and matching PJs for us to wear on Christmas morning.

So there are just a few of my family's Christmas traditions...what are your family's traditions?
xoxo
KAC

My Favorite Vacation Spots

Before I launch into my post I would like to give a HUGE thank you to sLe from the great blog Pearls, Curls, and a Southern Girl for also giving me the Social Butterfly award! I absolutely LOVE sLe's blog so if you haven't already, head over and say hi! This time, instead of nominating specific people, I nominate everyone who hasn't recieved an award yet, so grab this award and pass it on!



As most of you know, the amazing blogger Kelly, over at Kelly's Korner, host's show us your life Friday's which I love reading, and today I'm going to particiapate in my first one (I don't know why I haven't before haha) and show you my favorite vacation spots! I have a ton of favorite vacation spots, including Ottawa Beach Michigan, the Cape, and Nantucket, and have taken amazing vacations both with my friends, and my family. Today however, I'm going to share my hands down two favorite vacation spots that are my favorite places ever!

The first is Hawaii, and more specifically, Maui. My family and I went about three times when I was younger but I haven't been back since I think Junior or Senior year in High School and am DYING to! I think Maui is my favorite island because it is SO relaxing, and has the perfect combination of beaches, shopping, and yummy restaurants. There's also a HUGE volcano on the island which is so much fun to drive up to, and the view from the top is gorgeous! Because I haven't been back in a while I don't have any pictures that I took, but here are a few pictures from Google.


(The view of Lanai from Wailea)


(The beautiful view from the hotel we stayed at)

My other favorite vacation spot is Stowe Vermont, which is kinda off the beaten path but seriously my favorite place ever! I've been going up to Stowe since I was about a year old, and when I was older I spent 5 amazing summers at a summer camp a little north of there. Stowe is such an amazing town and is great in the summer, fall (when the leaves are BEAUTIFUL!) and winter when there is fantastic skiing. Even though my family and I aren't able to go up as often, we still try to make it up when we can and always have such a fun time!

Here are a couple pictures that I took last fall, when my family went up to celebrate my dad's birthday.




(the view of the lower village)


(Mt. Mansfield, which is one of the two main ski mountains)


(the view from the top of Mansfield)



So there you go...what are your favorite vacation places?
xoxo