Christmas Away from Home

Spending the holidays far from home has had its tender moments.  The holidays triggered missing home, missing our loved ones and the comforts of traditions. It is true that sometimes it is the being far from what is familiar that allows us to appreciate it more.  What was lovely was to hear what each person missed from home and at the same time how willing everyone was to embrace a different kind of Christmas. 

For the week of Christmas we moved into a nice Airbnb that was within a small community of bungalows and cabanas right on the beach.  

There were lots of families gathered for the holidays and on Christmas Eve there were people in santa hats in the water and a real sense of celebration in the air.   

We spent the few days leading up to Christmas decorating their own Christmas stockings,  colouring Christmas designs and cutting out paper snowflakes and candy canes to decorate our barren walls.  

We found a palm frond that served as our “tree” stuck into a bucket of sand and adorned with hand made decorations from egg cartons and toilet paper rolls and palm fronds.  The kids were introduced to the phrase “necessity is the mother of invention”.

  Amy had flown in from LA and spent Christmas with us which is one of our most favorite traditions, so that helped it feel more like Christmas. 

Christmas Eve we went to the grocery store that we had come to think of as the “big” grocery store.  It was jam packed with locals and tourists alike. It seemed like the tourists were wandering around in a daze (ourselves included) trying to figure out what to scrounge up to make a "festive" meal.  I saw one trio of young european mean debating the merits of one package of cookies over another.

As we drove away with our groceries we decided the experience was like battling the crowds at Costco on Christmas Eve, but with Whole Food Prices and a Seven Eleven selection…except we bought a bunch of pineapples and bananas from a stand set up in the parking lot!

Christmas Eve Dessert - Local Pistachio Ice cream and French wafers

Christmas Eve

The kids knew that we weren’t doing lots of Christmas gifts this year since we were on the move, but Christmas day came and the kids were happy to find out that Santa found them on Moorea.  

Presents under the "tree" Christmas morning

After a morning of crepes and Nutella with fresh bananas and pineapple (hey, we are on a French island in the South Pacific)  we had a low key day.

Our day consisted of hanging out, reading books, playing card games and, different than any Christmas we’ve had before, we went for a Christmas Day Swim.

Vios made his lego yacht and then checked out its seaworthiness.

Our Christmas dinner was lamb from New Zealand (the kids missed their YiaYia’s mint jelly), frites, salad and local ice cream for dinner.  Not bad for shopping out of what was a picked over island grocery!

The takeaway from Christmas was that what matters is being together.  That we can make our own fun. That being in a small island in the south pacific makes for a very low key holiday, and there are some things that are pretty relaxing about that;  That we missed our friends and family and traditions from home, but it is okay to miss something every now and then because it makes you appreciate it more.  In that light, the kids are already talking about spending next Christmas in our own home doing nothing out of the ordinary.

Much love to all our friends and family far and wide.