Anticipating Christmas

Until we moved overseas, and except for the few months my parents lived on the East Coast, I have never lived further than a few hours by car from my extended family. I've been fortunate enough to have been raised with a large, caring, and supportive extended family that had a rather active presence in my life. Same with Coral.

Now, it's mid-October, and with the exception of my daughter and my Mother, I haven't seen my family at all this year. The holidays are soon approaching.

Christmas back home involves extensive planning as traditionally there is a sit-down dinner in my parents home for the 50+ local family members... a gift exchange... Christmas carols around the fireplace in the front room... gifts early in the morning around the tree with coffee... and our personalized stockings my Mom made by hand for each one of us. There are so many cousins and nieces and nephews and growing families contained within my family that each year there is a new child to introduce to the holiday spirit... another child old enough to appreciate the excitement of unwrapping a gift, to help celebrate and hand out gifts.. each year is another gift in its own right.

This is the first year I will not be attending the greater family gathering. Even when I was married we spent Christmas with my family - either my in-laws didn't really celebrate Christmas or they held their dinner the night before (or both... not really big holiday celebrators or gift givers). Last year we flew home for the holidays and it was a wonderful yet mixed experience. Wonderful in that I got to see my family - mixed in that I had a terrible cold and barely got to see my family... and when I came back I felt disconnected to my surroundings having not been fully established when I'd left.

This year my Mom and Dad and youngest brother will be traveling to visit us. There are a few added bonuses to their journey - my brother's good friend in Canada (where he lives) is from Prague - Coral connected with her while she was visiting this summer... she will be returning to Prague for the holidays... and a dearly loved family friend will also be here from Bulgaria, visiting her parents who live in Prague... my parents will have a chance to connect with her after not having seen her for a few years - since she spent a Christmas holiday with us, in our home, in California.

We will all have a chance to connect with people whom we love, those who are special to us in a number of different ways. And I will have a chance to show my Mom and Dad where we live, what kind of life I've been able to put together over here, introduce them to a few people whose names they hear, and show them around our new home. I think we'll also have the chance to travel around just a bit, too.... maybe Vienna for a bit.

I really miss my parents. I miss working with my Dad, hearing about what is going on in the office, connecting with him over clients, being able to relate new challenges to past cases. And I miss my Mom. I miss talking to her every day, from next door - which is ridiculous, but true. I miss her 'Mom' jokes and her smile and how in her cupboards I can never find a simple snack but only incredibly healthy components that must be assembled in to something I normally wouldn't eat.

There's a fair amount of planning to do beforehand - tickets, hotels, etc... and as soon as I finish mid-terms I can't wait to get started!