Sunday, December 19, 2010

Christmas for an Ex-Pat

Christmas is upon us once again, it doesnt seem that long ago that it was last Christmas!!
This will be our second Christmas in the US, I have been back 'home' once in the last year, but Dave hasnt, but we have had family and friends come and visit on numerous occasions to bring a bit of Britishness to our home.
This Christmas is a definitely a lot different from last year, last year we were still settling in and didnt know many people, and when it got to Christmas it made us realise how far away 'home' was, and you start to miss the things you normally do with friends and family at this time of year, skyping on christmas day is nice but isnt the same as visiting people in person. Home sickness definitely set in at Christmas last year.
This year we still miss friends and family, but we are more settled in and have lots more new friends around us to help us celebrate, and we even have our own Christmas day routine to look forward to.
We are lucky that culture wise Christmas isnt that different in the US from the UK, except they dont know what Boxing Day is!! 
Weather wise, yes I miss the snow, but then if I had a few feet of snow and everything came to a stand still then I probably would soon get a bit peed off with it, although the rain we have at the moment is starting to become a bit annoying - who has stolen our Californian sun?
Ive been speaking to a few ex pats recently who have moved here in the last six months, and I can tell they are noticing the distance at this time, for those of you who this applies to, keep smiling and get on skype with friends and family, and remember it gets does easier with time, and once Christmas is out of the way the home sickness will slowly fade.

Merry Christmas everyone xxx

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