In this family travel vlog, Nate Ritter opens by wishing viewers a Merry Christmas and candidly sharing how the post‑holiday period has been mentally taxing, especially as his family has recently transitioned to full‑time living in an RV (the "rig"). He describes the lack of structure, the weight of responsibility, and the need for sensitivity toward others struggling during the holidays. The vlog then shifts to a celebratory moment: a friend woodworker, Phil, installs a repurposed dining‑room table in their trailer, prompting excitement and admiration from the family. Following the table installation, Nate and his partner (Speaker B) discuss their low‑key New Year’s Eve plans—making split‑pea soup, enjoying fancy drinks, and watching global celebrations from inside the trailer. The segment concludes with light‑hearted family interactions, including a chess game and playful banter among Nate, his partner, and their child (Speaker D), highlighting the blend of challenges and joys in their nomadic lifestyle and their hopeful outlook for the coming year.
Chapters
First, Merry Christmas whenever this comes out. Probably like June or something. Second, it's been a pretty rough post-Christmas. It's cold here in Santee right now. It's been in the 30s, and I know that's not cold for people like if you're in Minnesota or whatever, but, uh, for us it's cold. I don't know how many of you out there have problems with Christmas time, but I definitely do. Yesterday was just terrible. It was terrible. Mental health during the holidays, I think it's not the same for everybody. Everybody, we obviously all have our own history and our own things with the holidays, and sometimes they're amazing and, and sometimes they're not. For whatever reason, mine is always really stressful and not that fun. This year I think it's less about the holidays and more about just the fact that we've made this massive transition. Now we're in the rig full-time. All of this stuff all comes down and it feels like it's all on my shoulders. Everything feels off. We have no structure and make sure that we're enjoying our time together and doing this amazing adventurous thing, but it's also— it has a time horizon. Please just be aware in the holiday season when it comes back around again, whenever this video is published, that not everybody feels the same way about the holidays, and be sensitive to other people, especially those people who are struggling with those holidays for reasons that have no idea. This is the part of the journey where it's really, really hard. Ready to go?
I have some really exciting things that are happening today. The table in our trailer is kind of small and weird shaped, and it's also a lot skinnier than like a normal table would be. So I asked a friend of mine who is a woodworker, um, if he could take our old dining room table from our house and repurpose it and give us a new dining room table in the rig. And today is installation day. My table's here! He's here! You need some help?
Really?
It's so pretty!
Oh my word!
Oh my gosh, it's so amazing! You're like a miracle worker. I'm freaking out. Oh my gosh, Phil, it's amazing!
It's pretty, huh?
It's so pretty!
Ta-da!
Oh my word, this is incredible. Do we live in San Diego? This is craziness.
We're gonna use those cloth boxes, right?
Yes.
I think this lip is big enough that like nothing's gonna come sliding out.
Animal book.
Ah, Marshmallow. Happy New Year's! Today is New Year's Eve and we have no plans. Nate and I don't really do New Year's Eve parties, we never really have, but I always like to do something to celebrate. But being in a trailer is definitely a little bit different, so I'm actually gonna make some split pea soup, which maybe isn't the most celebratory dinner, but it's really cold and blustery outside. We're gonna have some fancy drinks and just kind of hunker down and stay warm inside the trailer. We love to watch, uh, New Year's Eve celebrations around the world. We think that's really fun. We've done that in years past. We're excited for a new year, for all the adventures that it's gonna bring and the challenges and how we're gonna grow. Yeah, I can't believe it's finally the end of 2021. Hopefully this coming year will be full of lots and lots of joy and adventure for us and hopefully for you. Cheers!
Look, Dad, Dad, Dad, Dad!
We had fancy beverages. What did you guys have?
Italian sodas. Raspberry flavored.
So good. In the background, we have a bit of a party pooper.
He didn't even—
not even 8 o'clock and this one's sleeping. Who do you think's gonna win?
Me. Me.
Actually, probably Asher. Somehow he always wins in this band house.
Dad's really, really good at chess. I beat him and I was like, who haven't you beat? Mom, because she's never played.
I played you! I beat him. It took me an hour and 45 minutes, but I beat him.
