Many of you are likely getting into the holiday spirit this week, including decorating your home and putting up Christmas trees. Put most generously, Dan is “reluctant” when it comes to Christmas decorating but now that the kids are old enough to really get excited he’s softening a bit.
The morning after Thanksgiving (USA), the kids are begging to get the boxes of decorations out and start hanging things up. We listen to Christmas music (Dan barely hanging on at this point) and hang lights and ornaments on our old but reliable artificial tree.
One fun souvenir tradition we have is to try and buy a Christmas ornament on each trip. We’re not sure when this started but pregnant in Paris (2012) is our best guess. True, we’ve never actually been overseas at Christmas but the same stores that sell t-shirts and magnets usually have some ornaments too. It’s a little tricky to pack them back in the luggage but well worth the extra effort when we reminisce about trips past and future while spending time together.
Below is from Paris 2012, Amsterdam 2014, Italy 2016, and Paris again in 2018.
(Not sure what happened in Spain!)
Hanging the ornaments each year is also an excellent opportunity for a family discussion on
- future destinations
- budgeting
- even New Year’s (travel) resolutions!
Build that collection up and enjoy the memories for years to come!
talk soon,
Dan & Betsy