Christmas on the Road…

As we neared our eighth Christmas on the road it had me thinking about how Christmas has changed for us. No longer is it a holiday that we long for and very much look forward to. We use to deck the house in Texas with lights and decorations. The Christmas tree would be ceremoniously erected and adorned with all the ornaments we had gathered over the years.Multiple presents were wrapped and placed under the tree in the days leading up to the big day. It is quite different now…

Yes we still put up lights and yes we have a little “tree” we adorn with memories but we now only buy gifts for the grandchildren as I believe Christmas is more for children than the adults. Obviously not everyone feels the same as I, but it works for us. However one thing we look forward to on Christmas is the annual visit by our daughter Katie. She has visited every year on Christmas making the holiday a little more special to us that I think it would otherwise be.

This year she brought Brooks (her new husband) with her for his first visit to southern Florida. Brooks spent his first Christmas away from his family to spend time with us. His family is the polar opposite of us as they go all out for Christmas. Gift giving is a big event and celebrated by all. I wondered how Brooks would handle how much less celebrated Christmas is in our new lifestyle.

Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with most of the plans we had for Katie and Brooks visit. The first thing we did was change the day we were going to have Christmas Dinner. While we may not celebrate Christmas like we used to, we have not changed in the way we like to have a big Christmas Dinner, So instead of December 25th we opted to have Christmas Dinner the day after they arrived five days before Christmas because of rainy and chilly weather.

With the weather being crappy it was a perfect day to spend indoors preparing the feast. An added benefit was that Katie and Brooks would be here to help us feast on all the leftovers which such a huge meal creates. A friend loaned us a turkey roaster so we could cook a 16 pound turkey (the smallest I could find). We made all the appropriate side dishes such as our southern cornbread dressing, deviled eggs, candied yams, green bean casserole and of course mashed potatoes with giblet gravy.

We had a grand meal and by having it on a different day we were free to spend the day at the beach on Christmas Day when the weather much, much nicer. Besides spending the day on the beach we filled Katie and Brook’s time attending parties, playing cornhole, shuffleboard and billiards.  Brooks met all our friends and they all decided he passed the test and is indeed a good match for Katie. He was such a good sport during their stay and we so appreciated having them visit.

The week sped by and we took them to the airport on the 26th. We notched yet another Christmas on our Road of Retirement and are looking forward to celebrating the New Year with our friends in IBE…

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…

Falling Into Our Florida Winter Routine…

We have traveled down to Bonita Springs for about four or five winters and as a result have gotten to know many of the the winter snowbirds and residents of Imperial Bonita Estates. While the park may not have all the amenities we would prefer to have at a  winter park destination it has enough of them and more importantly having friends here always has us looking forward to reconnecting with them

Shortly after we arrived an impromptu happy hour occurred at one of our Canadian friends who had just arrived as well. Heather and Paul, whom we first met here, are snowbirds who often travel through Mexico but were spending the winter here this season and so many of our friends had gathered to welcome them back/ Oddly enough last season we first met Paul and Sheren who were in IBE for their first season and later we found out they had known our friends Paul and Heather for years… small world!

Winter season is also the time to do some of the annual chores which RV life requires as well as some maintenace and repairs. I also took advantage of the opportunity to give the RV a good cleaning and washed her up nicely. Later in the winter I will give her a good waxing to shine her up for the upcoming spring and summer travels.

So as we settle into a routine of living life, getting in our morning exercise, taking walks around the park, playing cornhole, happy hour with friends and watching the Imperial River for Manatees we have time to fully relax and enjoy life.. I love strolling along the Imperial River as it offers a nice respite to our routine of living in a 55 and older RV park as I ponder our next season’s travels.

With Christmas on the horizon we of course had to decorate the interior of our RV with those little touches which remind us of the holidays and all the joy they bring. We are looking forward to Christmas as Katie and her husband Brooks will be coming down to visit us for the holidays. We hope the advent of Christmas is bringing you joy as well…..

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…