Me and my whole family went on a Christmas trip to the Lake of the Ozarks. Eventually after months of organizing and arrangements everything was set and ready to go, we had rented out this huge house for a couple of days for me and my entire family to live in for the trip. The house sat upon a cliff overlooking a long lake which hints at the name Lake of the Ozarks. The Lake of the Ozarks is a reservoir which was created by impounding (filling) the Osage River.

Me, my parents, nieces, and sisters were the first ones to make it to the house after a 3 hour drive. We only had to stop for gas once and my nieces were asleep for most of the drive, so everything went smoothly. 

When we got there we quickly unpacked and looked at the scenery that beheld us. It was such a beautiful scenery with sparkling blue water and the nice cold gentle breeze along with the sunset. Once I finished unpacking the rest of my family finally made it to the house, that includes my cousins, uncle, aunts, and grandmother. Before it got real late I decided to go outside and adventure a little bit, I went to the dock that was a part of the house and sat near the bottom of the house. 

I had to go down this super steep sidewalk to get down there though which was quite the workout when it was time to go back up. It was freezing outside as it began to get darker I could feel my fingers steadily starting to freeze as time passed by. 

Even though I eventually started to lose feeling in my fingers as they started to numb up the atmosphere was still so stunning. If I was a talented artist I would most definitely spend all my time outside painting my heart away until my fingers fell off. That's how beautiful the night sky sitting along the freezing cold lake looked to me.

I finally went back inside before the hyperthermia started to kick in, the next day would be Christmas day and I was ready for it. Before I went to bed I watched a movie with my family in the theater room, it was an action packed movie which I forgot the name of but it was really interesting. Everyone was winded by the long drive and unpacking before the movie could end and everyone that was watching the movie decided to all go to their respective rooms and went to sleep because it was late.  

I slept in the theater room because I honestly just wanted my own place to rest and didn’t feel like sharing rooms with my parents. I struggled to get any sleep because it's usually hard for me to sleep in new areas that i'm not familiar with. and was up until 3 in the morning. As I drifted off to my deep slumber I knew that this Christmas would be one of the most memorable Christmases I ever had, and boy was I right. 

I arose from my slumber and realized that it was Christmas day, I started to hear noises coming from outside of the theater room. I slid the theater room door open and saw my whole family gathered around the Christmas tree with high spirits. They were all opening up gifts one after the other and smiles breached across each one of their faces.

 My gifts contained a few items like money and clothes, the rest of my gifts weren't going to come until after Christmas as I'm still waiting for them to arrive right now. My favorite gift whatsoever was a pair of white and gold Jordan 1s that shined like the moonlight. 

When it started to get dark a few of us went outside to bathe in the warm flames of the bonfire. I was amused as I saw the flames grow large and the sparks fly up into the moonlight, it was a relief knowing that now my fingers wouldn't grow numb to the coldness. The only thing that would've made the night even better was if we had S’mores,  and since my parents' bedroom contained a bathroom and shower I went in there to change and get ready for bed. 

The bathroom looked great as it had a nice circular tub along with a walk-in shower. I took my time getting ready because I wanted to try and savor the moment as I knew that it would be a while until I stepped inside another walk-in shower. Once I dried off and got dressed I stepped out of the room and heard music playing in the background through the speakers, not too loud but loud enough. As I slid the theater room door closed and lay on the couch I dreamed that one day I would own a house like this, a house even better than this. 

This trip was so memorable to me just based on the simple fact that this was my first Christmas spent outside my own household and that fact holds a special place in my heart. Being able to enjoy Christmas with your whole family under one roof is an experience that many wish to have and I wasn't gonna take it for granted.