We’re heading up the Eastern Shore yet again. Didn’t we just do this a week and a half ago for my mother-in-law’s 85th birthday? Now we are driving up to spend Christmas with our sons and daughter-in-law in Boston. I have no idea what my daughter-in-law will serve for Christmas dinner, but I know it will be wonderful. She and my son have taken great pains to get their apartment ready and festive for the holiday. Her parents will be driving up from New Jersey, so it will be a great family time. I wish we could have our daughter and her family with us, too, but they are on their way to Texas where they will spend Christmas with my son-in-law’s family.
We are actually seeing traffic on the Eastern Shore. No, not New York City traffic or even Virginia Beach traffic, but a line of cars in both lanes. I have no doubt they are headed somewhere to spend Christmas with friends and family. I used to get teary-eyed when I would hear the song “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” because it made me think of Christmas in Connecticut with my parents and friends, and we were living so far away in Texas. Then Texas became home and we started new traditions. Our Christmas feast consisted of fajitas or machacado, King Ranch chicken, fresh flour tortillas still warm when I bought them at Central Market, homemade pico de gallo and guacamole. Even when the kids grew up, they returned for awhile, my parents came, friends came, and our ranks swelled to twenty-five.
Moving to Virginia brought changes again to our holiday traditions, and once again that old Christmas song made me teary-eyed. My daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren would no longer be spending Christmas with us. They would continue to drive down to Texas. For the first two Christmases, my sons came, but then one got married and we decided we would drive up to Boston instead, as we had more time off than they did. I no longer would host the Christmas feast. It was time to pass the honors on.
Nothing remains the same in life. That’s the sadness and the exhilaration of it. I find that when you let the old things go and embrace the new, you find the real meaning of that song. As I am driving up to Boston, I am getting closer to home, for home is and always has been, being with those I love. Home is in my heart.
This will be my last post until the new year. I want to just enjoy my children and the old friends we will visit after Christmas. I want to wish all of you a joyous Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Catch you later!
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- Christmas Cheer in a Desolate Land (comingeast.com)
Coming East 
Happy New Year, Susan! Come on over to my blog and join me in my “mutual admiration society!” I gave you the Reader Appreciation Award! 🙂
Wow! Thanks so much, Mama! I’ll go take a look right now. I haven’t been online for a week now and I’m having trouble pickingnupmwhere I left off.
I hope you are enjoying your trip, Susan. Blessings!
Enjoy each moment and “see” you soon!
Thanks, Winsomebella. Hope you are enjoying the holidays, too.
One of the best gifts my mom ever gave me was in letting me live my ‘new life’ as a married woman with children of my own I never felt torn between my family and my husbands family; my mom gave me the ‘freedom’ to enjoy OUR family and the holidays, without the guilt and travel that come with trying to make everyone else happy.
Glad to hear you find your home where your family is. That is true peace.
Merry Chirstmas!
What a good mom you have, Tuesday! Thanks for your thoughtful comment.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year! 🙂
Thanks, E.C. Wishing you all the best in the new year.
Wishing you a happy Christmas and new year.
Thanks, Val. Hope you are enjoying the holidays as well.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Have a wonderful vacation. And I look forward to seeing you again in 2012!
Thanks, Leah. I’m enjoying my blogging break. Hope it doesn’t become a habit.
Have a smooth, safe trip and enjoy that family. Merry Christmas!
Thanks, Darla. We are enjoying friends and family right now. Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.
This is going to be our very first Christmas on our own. We normally visit one set of parents or the other on Christmas Day, but the timing and airline tickets didn’t work out this year. I’m not sure what we’ll do with ourselves, but I’m looking forward to our day together anyway.
I hope you’ll have a wonderful holiday with your family and a healthy and creative new year.
Hope you had a wonderful Christmas , in spite of not being with all your family, Shary.
Wishing you safe travels and a most wonderfully Merry Christmas!! I wholeheartedly agree that life changes, but as we embrace those changes, we find new things to celebrate! And yes, home is definitely in the heart. ♥
I know you understand, Empty Nest. Hope your nest won’t be empty on Christmas.
What a healthy attitude! Roll with the changes, and all will still be good! Merry Christmas from The Red House.
Thanks, Margie! Stay toasty!
Nothing remains the same in life. That’s the sadness and the exhilaration of it. I find that when you let the old things go and embrace the new, you find the real meaning of that song.
Beautiful lines and how true.
Have a great holiday and see you next year!
Thanks, Kelly. Merry Christmas to you,too!
Have a joyous holiday “home” with the family.
Thanks, Georgette. I’ll be thinking of you down in Texas spending Christmas with your family. Enjoy them!
Thank you for this wonderful post. I am adopting your perspective that “Nothing remains the same in life. That’s the sadness and the exhilaration of it.” And I especially love “Home is in my heart.” And that is oh, so true.
Thanks, Dor. Holding onto the past is not productive and can actually be destructive.