Somewhere over France I think is my stomach, yet a part of my heart has always been in the UK. Some of happiest memories, friendships & experiences are here. However I am no longer the 18yr old backpacker, travelling with kids makes numbing the roller coaster arrival into Heathrow more will power & distraction than in the old days where I could curl up & sleep just about anywhere even in the middle of storm. Years of replacing caring for my own needs with prioritizing my children's paid dividends as Em wondered why I had already downed the inflight red wine with dinner & put my headphones up so loud I was providing inflight entertainment.
It was sad to be leaving Malta behind & yet exciting to be spending one of my favourite times of year in my favourite places. I was unsure if the chicken kiev & baked dinner would also make it with me as we rode our roller coaster yet to Londona thankful to meditation & new music downloads, some nice thoughts about my Christmas wish & before I was able to put on my winter woolies the girls were chasing each other thru customs & down the travelators, we had made it safely in London.
If you are travelling at Christmas there is nothing better than spending it with family. We have been warmly welcomed into my Aunt & husbands Henley home, charmed & enjoying ourselves with Christmas spirit; a shopping day child free in Windsor, arriving at changing of the guards, strolling gorgeous lanes, cobbled streets & how I've missed the pleasure of scattered little stores rather than over bearing department chains; Time to walk without interruption through Cath Kidson, enjoy a pot of tea, cheddar toastie & long overdue catch up knowing all the while the girls were in great hands, having an awesome time before meeting us for the Christmas eve service.
I love the winding narrow lanes, winter willows, flooded Thames & could listen to English accents all day & night. We are rugged up, enjoying fabulous & delicious entertaining, Im teary at hearing my children laugh & even scream with excitement & for the first time in too long a timely phone call & I fell asleep with feeling things really can turn out if you wish hard enough & long enough; this is exactly what the doctor ordered. I smiled! Yep & maybe it even stopped hurting a while & distance really does more than just take you miles from where you are. I nearly gave up, never on life just on believing it could ever be more than it was. I know I was forever telling my children this would good for us, I was homesick, I was trying to convince myself at the same time.
Ive always been great at motivating others & putting my head down & yet Santa always seemed to lose my letters until now. Maybe Juliet put in a word & I guess if you are ever going to pray then the Sistine chapel is the place to be. I was somewhere over the Tyrrhenian Sea listening to 'say something' hoping for a top up I was really nearing empty & my daughter held my hand & just smiled :)
I am glad I spoke with my son, grateful for the kindness & blessed Christmas, the warm beautiful roof over our heads, the aroma radiating from the kitchen, a glass of wine is handed to me, kids are laughing as they battle it out on the Wii. There is a part of me in Australia, a big part I miss & can't wait to see in 2014, yet for right now absence has made the heart grow fonder & I've missed England & it's so nice to return & thankful for Christmas magic xo
