Tag: family

Christmas 2024 in London

A medical issue caused us to cancel our planned trip to the US for Christmas. So this year, we’re spending our Christmas and New Year holidays in London.

Regent Steet

Although we greatly miss spending time with the family, London is known as a great place to be during the Christmas holiday. There are some amazing light displays. And if you’re interested in shopping (we aren’t), Christmas markets abound, in addition to the plethora of shops that offer boundless opportunities for holiday buying.

Transportation for tourists
Oxford Street Christmas Lights

We do a lot of walking, and have seen many of the popular Christmas light displays. We also visited a Christmas market, complete with mulled wine.

Mulled wine on a chilly evening
Covent Garden

Christmas Day was a quiet one for us. A short walk in the neighborhood. Later in the day, some video calls with family (adjusting for the 5-hour time zone difference).

And, a traditional Christmas dinner. Well, maybe not traditional in the common sense. We’re having Christmas sukiyaki. Having lived in Japan for several years, we love the Japanese hotpot meals. That is our delicious Christmas dinner, rather than the fowl and dressing.

Merry Christmas to all…and best wishes for the New Year!

Our Christmas dinner sukiyaki

Home (?) for Christmas Holiday 2023

We went “home” for the Christmas Holiday this year. I say “home” because this is the first Christmas  we’ve gone back to the US after we sold our house and most of our belongings and relocated to London.

Our miniature Christmas tree from Japan…Now relocated to our home in London

During the 4-1/2 years we lived in Japan, we went back to the US for Christmas all but one year. But it was back to our house, where our daughter was living. It was different, being in our house but our daughter’s home, but still familiar.

Then when we came back from Japan, we moved back into our house. But the Christmases in 2020 and 2021 were impacted by COVID, so not really “normal.” In 2022, the family did gather in our house for what we later would realize would be the last time.

This year, we all spent the days before Christmas together in two rented cabins at a local state park. It was nice, and I think everyone enjoyed it. It was very different for us, but maybe not as difficult as we thought it might be coming back “homeless” in the US for the first time.

One of our daughters graciously hosted everyone for Christmas brunch at her home, and it was wonderful. And we stayed with her for the short time before our return to London. Our other daughter in Atlanta hosted her brother and sister and their families, taking over the role we have played as a place for the family to gather for a few days.

All in all, we enjoyed this Christmas holiday. It was very different, but we still are thankful for the time together and the many, many blessings we have.

With Christmas over, our family is again dispersing… some to the Northeast, some in the Atlanta area, and us back to London.

We all have rich memories of growing up as a family… of celebrations in three different family homes over the years. Now we are making new memories, as the next chapters of all our lives unfold.

It is so tempting to dwell on the times gone by, and the memories we would like to revisit… and maybe even sadness or regrets about the things/places we no longer have. And there is a place for that, but not for too long. The future is before us and we must make it the best we can… as individuals, as our separate families, and as the “big” family that has grown up and matured over the last four decades.