Early Christmas wishes from Karen Robbins! Nothing like warm sunny weather to make you think about Christmas. Actually that’s what the six of us have been doing all year round for about a full year now. Thankfully, most of my creative work for A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts was done when the weather around Ohio was snowy and looking like a “traditional” Christmas. But Christmas tradition for me has evolved and changed as I have grown ol. . .er, shall we say more mature.
My husband (of 40 years), Bob, and I have passed through the stage of hectic Christmas seasons with five children and have moved into hectic Christmas seasons with six grandchildren. Hmmm. Seems nothing changes even with semi-retirement. Since our family is scattered liter
ally from one coast to the other and North to South, we get together for the holiday as a family every other year. And the years in between, Bob and I plan a holiday cruise—sort of like the Kranks in Grisham’s story, only we actually take the cruise. We are avid travelers and we’ve had the opportunity to see how Christmas is celebrated in several other areas of the world.
While I loved the writing/compiling of A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts, and I’ve published hundreds of articles and essays over the years, including my current grandparenting column at Positively Feminine.org, my first love in writing is fiction. I have been working on several novels: a cozy mystery, a hilarious story about a 70 year-old pickle entrepreneur, a historical from the Great Depression era, and am currently trying my hand at a romance novel. As I told my writing friends at ACFW
Ohio, I guess I'm a genre jumper. But enough, if you'd like to know more about my travels, writing, and speaking, you can hop over to my website.
So, tell me, have you ever spent Christmas away from home? Where was it and what was it like?
My husband (of 40 years), Bob, and I have passed through the stage of hectic Christmas seasons with five children and have moved into hectic Christmas seasons with six grandchildren. Hmmm. Seems nothing changes even with semi-retirement. Since our family is scattered liter
ally from one coast to the other and North to South, we get together for the holiday as a family every other year. And the years in between, Bob and I plan a holiday cruise—sort of like the Kranks in Grisham’s story, only we actually take the cruise. We are avid travelers and we’ve had the opportunity to see how Christmas is celebrated in several other areas of the world.While I loved the writing/compiling of A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts, and I’ve published hundreds of articles and essays over the years, including my current grandparenting column at Positively Feminine.org, my first love in writing is fiction. I have been working on several novels: a cozy mystery, a hilarious story about a 70 year-old pickle entrepreneur, a historical from the Great Depression era, and am currently trying my hand at a romance novel. As I told my writing friends at ACFW
Ohio, I guess I'm a genre jumper. But enough, if you'd like to know more about my travels, writing, and speaking, you can hop over to my website.So, tell me, have you ever spent Christmas away from home? Where was it and what was it like?
5 comments:
Oh, oh, could you or the Kranks adopt me? I don't think I've ever spent a Christmas away from home.
Dave and I spent one Thanksgiving away on purpose, due to business. I missed the family, but wejumpedright back into tradition the next year.
I like your schedule.
Cathy
The first Christmas Ron and I celebrated after we were married was on our honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico. On Christmas day we went to the market and took turns going into stores to purchase little gifts for each other. The stores were all decorated and even the taxi had a little Christmas tree stuck to the dashboard. After we went back to the hotel, we wrapped our gifts in toilet paper and then exchanged them. It was a very special & memorable Christmas.
I spent Christmas '00 in China. It was pretty different, but they did have trees and Santa. We went to a Christmas party at a banquet hall and the highlight of the evening was a large cake (easily over 4 feet tall) embellished with puffy icing Santas and chocolate electric guitars.
Karen ~ you're right! Bob does look like a younger (and better looking) Ted Kennedy.
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