A Joyful, Merry and Bright Christmas in Phuket

We are so lucky to be in Hong Kong where a family trip to Phuket for Christmas is considered quite routine!  Under 4 hours and a direct flight, pinch me, we are almost back to the heady days where the entire world was our traveling oyster.  We went for 8 nights and 9 days and were blessed with great weather.  The resort wasn't as luxe as we normally opt for, but the kids' enjoyment was definitely 10 out of 10.

Airport! Lounge, headphones, window seats.  Check.

Checking out the hotel upon arrival: pool, kids club, gingerbread and Christmas decor!  

Reef walk at low tide, we saw so many sea cucumbers and fish!  Lola and I snorkeled once at high tide - she was so brave!  By the end of that time we could go hand in hand.

The pools were really big and we enjoyed all of them immensely: water slide, sprinklers, fountains, shallow and deep sides, a tunnel connecting two pools, an adult swim up bar, and a long lazy river.

Kids club and rec areas were pretty cool also.

There was the beach right outside our room, and tons of activities every day.

Ice cream!  Glo party!  Football tournament!  A playground on the beach.

We went offsite one day, to see friends from Hong Kong.  We went mini golfing and then to their villa on Point Yamu.  It was so fun but the traffic in Phuket is horrendous.  We came back to an epic party with Muay Thai fighting directly outside our hotel balconies.

Kids made pizzas and sea glass jewelry/keychains as some of the activities.  We ate more ice cream.

The kids probably went down this slide 600 times.  Each.

My parents joined us for a couple of days (after their long cruise in Singapore and around SE Asia) over Christmas and we opened presents in the hotel room.  I got something REALLY beautiful, a Van Cleef necklace and earrings set.  My parents gave us all really cool clothes from Indonesia.  The favorite of the kids' toys was probably the walkie talkie set.  The resort did a carnival with a huge bouncy castle and slides, and we enjoyed a nice Christmas Eve dinner with live music. 

Before we knew it, it was time to return home!