Fifteen cousins, four uncles and aunts are standing on a cliff locates in Virginia.
This is how senior Sami Ritter is celebrating her 2012 Christmas.

“Instead of getting each other Christmas gifts, my parents and my aunts and uncles on my mom’s side all pitch in money and we take a bonding trip,” Ritter said.

Four years ago, Sami’s mom and aunts discussed a way they could all afford to give their nieces and nephews gifts while staying in budget. They decided that instead of buying each kid an individual gift, they could save up money to do something big as a family.

“A lot of my cousins live out of town,” Ritter said. “It’s a really great bonding time for us when we take the trip.”

Some of the trips have been to local places, like the City Museum and Demolition Ball.
“When we went to play Demolition Ball last year, our true colors came out, it showed how competitive we all really are.”

During the summer this year, Ritter’s family took their trip early and went to  Babcock State park in West Virginia, where they got to ride horseback along a mountain trail.

“This year was my favorite trip so far,” Ritter said. “All of the trips give us time to do thing together, I only get to see most of my cousins once or twice a year so it gives us time to work on our relationships.”