This year we’ll have the traditional family gathering at Christmas at Mother’s house. The whole affair takes the entire day – with people arriving at her house around 10:00 in the morning for the gift exchange and then a big Christmas dinner, then we laze around for a couple hours visiting and admiring each others gifts, then we have dessert with a family sing along. If the weather is not bad, we’ll stay until about 10:00 pm and when the little ones start getting cranky we head home.
The very next morning I’ll be on an airplane to Miami so I can get checked into my Key Largo rental home and have my week of surf and sand in the Florida Keys.
I found the perfect beach house using a web site called VRBO.com and I booked it this morning. Getting a rental house makes a lot more sense than a hotel room if you are going to be someplace for more than just overnight. You get all the comforts of home plus more privacy than a hotel can give you. The house I’m renting is right on the water overlooking the marina, and I’m going to try to make arrangements for a private charter to go fishing at least one day while I’m there. Another day will be spent driving down to the Key West and having some fun in Old Town.
Really looking forward to recharging my batteries and getting away from this rat race for a week. In fact, I could use that vacation right now.