Friendsgiving 2019

During the past 7 years my hubby’s been in the Air Force we’ve been through a handful of bases, some larger and some smaller. Our last was nestled between several cities in the fast-paced San Francisco Bay Area and our current one is in a quiet, isolated town in the Oklahoma countryside. When we live at isolated bases like our current one I’ve noticed that the squadron and their spouses tend to band together more. There’s not really anywhere to go and you’re so far from family, so your squadron becomes your family. That’s especially nice during the holidays because not everyone gets to go home. Recently, hubby and I hosted a Friendsgiving with some squadron buddies. Everyone likes to get a taste of city life when they can, so we drove 3.5 hours to Dallas, booked a vacation rental, and just hung out and ate good food. It was a blast.

Our Vacasa rental was perfect because it had a bed for everyone, plenty of bathrooms, a huge table for playing games at night, and a large living room area for watching football in the morning. If you don’t know about Vacasa, it’s the largest vacation rental management platform in North America. They have over 23,000 rentals across 31 states and 17 international countries. It was a pretty stress-free stay for us. They have property managers in the area who you can contact if you have any issues. Our wifi wasn’t working in the morning so I texted a manager about it and they told me where the router was and had maintenance ready to come over (though it fixed itself before then). The kitchen was fully stocked for our Friendsgiving, and towels and toiletries were prepared just like a hotel. All we had to prepare was games and food, so it was a great time. (You can check out our sweet rental HERE.)

Since we were in Dallas, we decided to do BBQ for our Friendsgiving meal, which was so fun. Think brisket, sausage, pork and beef ribs, mac ‘n cheese, collard greens, etc. Mmm. I am not the best at tablescapes, so in lieu of centerpieces I opted for a fall-themed cheese board “centerpiece” with seasonal fruit, autumn colored macarons, and lots of munch-ables. The gals helped me set up the table and everyone was good sports about me taking photos of them eating 🙂 At night, we chatted and played games and I tried my best to reel in my competitiveness. In the morning, the boys turned on football while hubby and I made some mediocre pancakes and eggs. I am not much of a hostess, but our nice rental made things easy on me. It was a gorgeous, cozy vacation rental to gather in. We had lots of fun and highly recommend Vacasa for your own next holiday getaway.

Browse rentals, book confidently, and get the garage best price for your getaways this holiday season on Vacasa.com. And, if you or someone you know owns a vacation rental, consider having Vacasa professionally manage your home.