Since taking to the road five years ago we have not been home for every holiday. As the songs says, there’s no place like home for the holidays, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two that are the hardest for us. Okay, maybe just me. Growing up with a strong tradition of family gatherings and traditional foods, created lots of great memories and warm feelings that I do miss when we don’t make it back home. It’s like being wrapped in an oversized, warm, fuzzy blanket.
The sweet smells of apple and pumpkin pie, the savory turkey basting in the oven…the days and hours of cooking and baking…the pain of an overstuffed tummy…let’s not even talk about the piles and piles of dirty dishes to clean…the gain of 10 pounds after one meal…ah, heaven.
In the true travellers spirit though, we work hard to incorporate our traditions with friends we meet. This year Dante, a guy John works with, invited us to spend Thanksgiving with him and his family in their new home.
While Joann, her daughter Lauren, and I cooked, the guys hung out, talked and watched “The Godfather” on TV.
Joann set a beautiful table that I almost hated to mess up. She explained to me that during the transport of the the table and chairs to their home, one of the six chairs was lost. Dante? As it turns out, there were five us for dinner, so it worked out perfectly!
For the second time, I forgot to take a picture of the turkey BEFORE it was carved. But I did manage to get a picture of all the great food we made before it was all gone.
For desert, I made the pumpkin and apple pies, but didn’t get a picture of them either. We were too busy socializing for me to remember to take pictures, which is what the holidays are all about anyway.
From left to right: Lauren, Joann, John, Wendy, Dante.
As far as the eating so much your tummy hurts? Yeah, we ate so much the next day we were still full.
Following my normal holiday tradition, instead of braving the Black Friday crowds, I stayed home and decorated for Christmas.
I don’t have a lot of room to decorate in the RV, but the dash area is the biggest space I have so I do my best. Its like decorating a store front window. I put in the little details for the up-close look, complete with my snowmen (I LOVE SNOWMEN!!!!), fake snow, snowflakes, little presents.
This year I took one of those lighting-nets for bushes and hung that up in the windshield for the “street view” people who don’t get close up. I’m probably the only one decorating in the park, but I look at it as bring some Christmas joy to every one. I did have one camper stop and tell me she really likes how I decorate our RV.
We may not be home for the holidays, but I do my best to bring our traditions with us on the road.
Now, let’s shop!!!! Where’s my computer? Amazon is calling to my wallet!
Loralynn and I enjoy your blog. Your decorations and lovely dinner with new friends apparently was and are a hit. We likewise, enjoyed meeting you both and it is our hope our paths will again cross in the future.
We made it home and the RV posed no issues; after all, new tires, two bearings and a new tongue lift should be all that is necessary for a while. I guess we are rebuilding our RV from the ground up – Ha!
We are thinking of heading to Tucson in either January or February to the RV campgrounds you mentioned. I don’t recall which ones you mentioned. Would you please share their names and locations. Do you think you may be heading that direction in the months mentioned?
We take possession of our new home “in the country” on November 27th. We have plenty of packing to do and I can’t wait until we are moved. Then, we need to selling our current home.
Well, that is it for now. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with plenty of tasty food similar to what you enjoyed for Thanksgiving.
Merry Christmas🎄
Your RV friend, Steve Benton
God Bless you two!