I sit hear feeling the comfort I have searched for in the infancy of what is sure to become a great and wondrous adventure into retirement, travel, and freedom. Our going away party is tomorrow evening and the big liquidation sale is two weeks away. Closing is coming in 20 short days.
My mind is filled with summer plans with grandkids that will now be uninterrupted by my going to work; winter climates spent with Champ where a cool day will be 50 degrees, a cold day will be 40 and sub- zero weather expected in an Iowa January will be a distant memory. The only hitch is how will we ever survive Christmas 1,000 miles away from the kids and no chaotic, noisy Christmas gathering at our home? We’ll have to find our way across that bridge when we cross it in December.
Here we are on December 27th. At the wildlife refuge where we will volunteer till April. The weather is quite mild, mid 70’s during the day and upper 60’s at night. Windows are opened and the songs of the coyotes lull me to sleep each night. Christmas was 2 days ago, now in the history books.
It is said much fear lies in anticipation. Our first Christmas away proved the theory. We survived better than we thought we would this first year away from our three kids and their families. At last count, we have 24 when our little clan comes together. How did we survive?
After 15 years of having dibs on Christmas Eve, we have held our Christmas gathering with the kids on the Saturday before the 25th the past 2 years. They are all grown and have their own families and in-laws. It made sense to move it from Christmas Eve. That being said, we are used to spending Christmas Day together at home by ourselves. Some years we would venture out and drop in on the kids depending on the weather and road conditions. The hard part this year was not holding the big gathering at all.
The key for us was keeping perspective on the facts:
- We have 2 other traditional gatherings with the kids, one in late October (our pseudo Thanksgiving) and Mother’s Day Breakfast.
- Christmas is but one day a year out of 365
- Technology makes being in touch by phone or face time quite easy
- This lifestyle places one in the company of others going through the same emotional journey, away from their families. The community of the Full Time RV’er indeed will hold each other up during these challenging times.
We talked a lot about what we missed leading up to the big day. We decorated our RV inside and out. Put up a small tree and stockings over the RV fireplace and carried on. This year we cooked a nice meal & exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day we talked to all the kids and a few others. Facebook provided lots of pictures of the gatherings of those we were missing. In the evening, we went to the home of a Refuge Employee who hosted a gathering for the volunteers. We had a full day.
My biggest regret about not being home is the knowledge that our three kids did not see each other. Without out us there as a hub to draw them all together, they went about their holiday plans independently of each other, the weather was frightful and roads were terrible in Iowa so any plans would likely have been foiled by the weather anyway. The kids were cheerful when we talked on the phone and pictures on FB and via text indicated traditional holiday cheer associated with families with small children.
Christmases and winter birthdays will always be a compromise that we chose, to live the dream of travelling and work camping our way through our golden years. Nothing comes without a price and we’ve accepted that holidays away are part of the very short list of cons.
I’d love to hear your stories of how you manage holidays away from loved-ones whether you work camp or simply live a long distance from your kids and grandkids. Feel free to comment with your thoughts.
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