Christmas in Virginia
I know that the rainy season has not even started yet but I am told it is never too early to start thinking about Christmas plans.
Our dear friends, that we usually spend Christmas and New Year’s with here, are going to visit their daughter in Australia this year.
Our son and his wife, we thought, were going to France to visit her family for Christmas so it seemed like a good year to head north to my husband’s brother’s cabin in Virginia.
This is something that my husband’s Mom wanted us to do and that is keep in touch with the rest of the family after she had passed.
When we were all in Canada Christmas was always at the Collin’s family farm and it was always very special and extremely festive.
We have only made it back to Canada for 2 or 3 Christmases in the 20 years we have been here so are very excited about the plan to all be together for the holidays.
We have had the family here, of course, and had a wonderful time so we are very much looking forward to being together this year.
It takes a lot of organizing with people flying in from all over Canada and England but my sister-in-law and I are excellent organizers so it should be fun.
The cabin in Virginia is beautiful and they have done a wonderful job on it making it a fabulous country mountain retreat. Evidently, Christmas is always a big deal and they pull out all the stops to make it as festive as possible. We have seen pictures but are very much looking forward to seeing it in person. It will be a shame that we are not taking our dogs with us as it is a fantastic location for dogs but will make sure our puppies are well looked after here.
My sister-in-law has one worry and that is there will not be enough alcohol in the small village near to the cabin.
As it turns out our son and his wife are going to try and join us and they are not going to France until February 2015.
We are all very happy about this prospect of being with family for Christmas as it has been the one thing we do miss about no long living up north. (But not much else.)
We do love Christmas here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala but it will be lovely to be with the family in front of a roaring fire for a throwback to the many wonderful Christmases we had together in the past.
We will drink a toast to my husband’s parents who always made Christmas so special for all of us and to mine too and any other absent family members.
It is lovely to have such a great trip and adventure to look forward to. So much to do and so little time but I am sure everything will fall into place. The immediate family is now about 15 people so I suggested to my in-laws that they had better get started on the extension.
As much as we will enjoy our family Christmas in the mountains of Virginia I know we will be happy to get back to our paradise in the sun and, of course, our puppies