A special thanks to Coffee Mate (on behalf of Collective Bias) for sponsoring this post and making great holiday coffee creamers, especially the Peppermint Mocha. Thanks for helping create "moments of connection" with my family this week, we all agree we love the Peppermint Mocha! 
I married into a big family. Like 50+ people and still growing. (Oh, and that is just on his father’s side of the family.) Cousins, aunts, uncles, in-laws, nieces, nephews, siblings, grandparents… to say the least, it took me awhile to figure out all of the relations and memorize all the names to faces! Growing into this big family was quite the adjustment from my mere solo cousin on my father’s side. Yeah, a big adjustment.
But you know what?
To my surprise, after the initial overwhelming shock of a big family (and sometimes the additional drama, but also love), I have grown to love being a part of such a spectacle that we are. And I mean that in a good way. Like, it is fun to just show up at the local pizza joint in Wagner, OK with a shocking 30 people at once. We fill the booths and tables in seconds flat.
I love that there is always someone to get to know more and connect with. It is a constant catching up on one another when we get together! Who’s having babies? Who is graduating from High School, College or getting their Doctorate (go Kyle!)
This past week there was a lot of catching up.
Family flew in and drove near and far, to celebrate Thanksgiving together. It was a beautiful almost-week of just real connection. We rented cabins on a lake, and it was time away from the real world, to just connect.
In the morning, some of us would gather in our cabin to enjoy a relaxing morning of just talking and sipping our coffee together. We would sit around the table with our cups, a pot of coffee and the festive Coffee Mate Peppermint Mocha creamer. (Which is delicious!)
We started our day with getting to just connect and be ourselves (I mean really be ourselves, since we were frequently still in our pajamas without makeup on!)
Sitting and sipping our creamy and delicious coffee, was one of my favorite memories of this weekend, just a simple "moment of connection" with the people that I love.
It was usually, just us girls who got together for this morning ritual. We would chat and chat and chat, until we realized the time was flying and it was time for us to visit with the rest of the family too! Catching up with these wonderful ladies, whom I call my family, is one of those irreplaceable things in life. Those things that aren’t actually things.
Enjoying our morning cup of coffee with Nestle’s Peppermint Coffee Mate creamer was a part of our morning boding experience. We loved the rich holiday flavor, it was creamy, smooth and tasted gourmet.
I am happy to announce that Nestle Coffee Mate is featured in the exclusive Live SoFab Holiday Digital Magazine! Check out the entire publication for gift ideas, decorating ideas, and more holiday ideas!