It has been exciting for us to be back on this side of the world after so many years in Asia. The most fun of all the activities over the last several years has been to get together with our family at Christmas. For two of the three Christmases we have been in the Caribbean our children have come down here to see us either for the holiday or shortly after.  For one of those years we went up north to see them. There have been other trips as well, like the most recent one to Ontario in October, or Pam’s trips to Orlando, Phoenix and Calgary.

However, this Christmas we neither went north nor did we entertain family. We didn’t travel either, both of us being a little too weary from work to do the necessary planning to get away. Instead we had a quiet Christmas ‘on island’ and it has been very pleasant and relaxing.  After all, if you lived in Canada you would think that three weeks in the Caribbean would be a very nice holiday! We have a little pool on the condo property here, and I made good use of that, finally getting to loosen up some of the bodily tension from this long first semester. We spent a couple of mornings on Seven Mile Beach, and a very pleasant day up at Barker’s Beach on the north shore just watching the kite surfers and horseback riders and reading under the trees. We went out for a few nice meals at Thai Orchard and Tukka.

We had a lovely quiet meal for Christmas. We met with our church in Dart Park by the sea for a Christmas Eve service and met up with friends Jake and Ema afterwards at Sunset House for drinks and curry fries.  We did a little garage sale-ing one day and drove around to see the Christmas lights at Christmas. We took an evening sail to watch the New Year’s Eve fireworks with our friends Tom and Jana and we went dancing at Margaritaville and Peppers. We also watched a lot of movies on Netflix, including E.T., The Sound of Music, and Home Alone. We read and rested and went for a walk downtown. We got both cars safetied for another year and replaced the ceiling fan in the bedroom that just up and died. I got all of the backlog of essays marked so I can start the new semester fresh. Most importantly both of us spent a lot of time on our weblogbook Home Thoughts From Abroad which we publish through Blurb.com every couple of years. The one just finished will be the eighth book in the series of adventures we have been on since we left Canada.

It is most unusual for us to take the time just to relax. Usually we use every free moment of vacation time to travel or visit with our family to the point of physical exhaustion. To take the time just to unwind and have some fun and pretend that we are a retired older couple is odd for us, and kind of nice. They say that being bored is a fundamental component of creativity and productivity: that these periods of doing nothing allow you to reflect on the journey you are on and plan for the next steps to come. If so, we well are well prepared for the year and the challenges to come. Happy New Year to all!

Jan 5, 2019.