The long awaited Christmas blog has arrived! I apologise for the fact that it has taken so long for me to sit down and write this but the student life got in the way and then once I actually had more time on my hands where I could sit and write I realised that I wasn't sure what I wanted to say. :O I know, I do hope the shock of me being wordless didn't hit you too hard. The thing is for me Christmas has always followed such a particular pattern that while on the surface it may seem to be about what I do when I think about it, it is really more about what it all means to me. So I could post a nice factual list about what I did over the holidays but that isn't what I want this blog to be, it should be more reflective than that, or I could post about my emotional response to the season and the adventures it held. Those of you who know me well though will know that for me that isn't as simple at it sounds, me putting my emotions out there, or onto the page. The rest of this blog then, which I promise will talk about Christmas, may not be amazingly informative about what I did exactly in the three weeks I had off for Christmas, and it may not give you a full insight into how I felt about everything, it will be the best I can describe in words though, a mix of both aspects I suspect, so I hope you enjoy it.
As, I mentioned previously I had three weeks off for Christmas, and while I know some exchange students who went home for the holidays, that wasn't an option financially for me. However, I'm incredible lucky to have an Uncle and cousins in Florida who it was financially viable to get to , thanks to the family for all the help there, and were more than happy to welcome me in for the three weeks. This was a big thing for me as one of the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Christmas is family. My entire Christmas is normally centred around family events and has been since before I can remember, so the fact that I could spend the season with family, even if it wasn't the family I normally spent it with, was hugely important to me.
Before I went I was extremely excited, and since I am extremely grateful, to get to spend three weeks with these family members as I don't get to see them often and not normally that long either. Also since I last saw them one of my cousins had gotten married and another had had a baby. Getting to meet baby Mason was so special, he was adorable. Most of my time pre-Christmas was spent just spending time with my family, going into the office with my uncle where one of my cousins and her husband also work and staying at my Uncles and getting to spend my evenings hanging out with another of my cousins playing on the wii and the like relaxing after a busy term.
I also did one of my traditional Christmas activities: Gingerbread men baking. Normally me and my sister spend the week leading up to Christmas baking up a storm. This year, being on different continents wasn't enough to stop us from baking, we just had to do all the work ourselves for once. It was an odd experience, cooking them in a different Kitchen, with different equipment and without my sister but it was still fun and just the smell of them baking put me firmly in a Christmasy mood. Christmas eve was spent between a couple of my uncles family friends all of whom were so very welcoming to someone they hadn't met before or had only met just over a week ago. It was a lovely day, and although different to home still gave me many of the feelings I'm used to getting at Christmas.
Christmas morning, my uncle was hosting an english breakfast at his home, it was attended by one cousin and her husband and the parents of one of my other cousins husbands (make sense?). Along with the fry up was the traditional (nice to see something survived the journey across the pond) Champagne cocktails. I then skyped my family back home which was lovely to speak to them and share the Christmas spirit even if it was via a wifi connection. After this we went to my cousins for Christmas dinner. This was probably the oddest part of the holidays. So different to what I'm used to. There were so many people for one, I think it was about 25, double what I normally spend it with. This meant that the dinner was done differently too. I'm used to pretty much one person cooking the entire main course. Rather, this year what I experienced was each person being allocated something to bring. It was a really wonderful way of doing it and it was so nice to see everyone contributing to the meal. Another difference was the actually food. No turkey, instead it was a rib roast, no pig in blankets, but there was mac n cheese and a salad, neither of which I would have ever have imagined as being part of a Christmas dinner. It was also interesting that while everyone had come together to cook, the eating of the food was quite separate (with 25 people it kind of had to be I suppose) everyone was split between 3 or 4 rooms, I'm used to everyone around one table so it was a weird feeling eating with a tableful of people but knowing there were others on the couches ect... There were many other differences to the day, the point at which gifts were exchange and the lack of certain Christmas specials. But something that prevailed was the sense of the day as a time to come together with people you love and celebrate life and joy. I was so worried that I would lose these aspect being away from what I was used to, and while I did miss home a lot and the traditions it holds, it was a great experience to be a part of another part of my families traditions and realise that the most important aspects are separable from the actions.
While, in the U.S boxing day doesn't exist it was still an important day of the holidays for me. Why you ask? Well it was the day my sister was flying from England to spend time with me and the U.S based family. Largely the rest of my holidays was spent again just spending time with the family, sister included now. Doing regular things one would do while on holiday, relaxing with the occasional day trip included. For example one day we did Island of Adventures. I'm not going to go into detail here as it really was for me all about the quality time I was getting to spend with everyone.
Another very excitable and notable thing did happen post Christmas though, and that was a visit from two of my exchange family who had spent Christmas in Miami and Fort Lauderdale. They got the bus to come for a two day visit in which we went to seaworld and welcomed in the new year at a house party (well more like garden kitchen party) where we played the wii, ate some amazing food and watched the ball drop live at midnight. With the starting of a new year though the holidays we coming to an end and on the first they left back to continue their post exchange adventures and I spent the day with my family enjoying being with them and relaxing before on the 2nd I myself got on a plane and came back to Uni to start my second semester, holidays over.
This blog is longer than I thought it might be when I first started to write it and yet there are things I left out and perhaps could/should have talked about. But it think that I have managed to capture enough of the time that in the future when I look back at this post it will remind me of all the other wonderful things that I got to be a part of this Christmas. While this might be late I hope each of your Christmases was spent with those you love, family or friends and that you felt joy and cheer that warmed you from the inside out. I know I did and for that I will always be be grateful!
