We went away for Christmas week this year – a beautiful “cottage” with lots of windows looking out on the ocean. In the distance we saw an island with a ight house and a land mass with houses and lights at night.

Winter arrived while we were there and on the last night, it snowed – it really snowed!

We were greeted upon arrival by a Christmas Card from the owner and some treats – apple crisp and powdered sugar cookies which we shared with our guests over the next 6–days.

The first day was moving in day and because it was Christmas, I brought decorations and lit the place with homey candles and scented reed diffusers. This was a great idea, because now that I’m home, the reed diffusers remind me of when I was there.

The next day began a whirlwind of guests and entertaining – lunch with friends, an overnight guests (my dad) and early Christmas day opening presents on December 23rd with my son and grandson. The next day we had a few hours to recover and then we traveled to my sister-in-law’s house for a Christmas eve party.

Christmas day was filled with more family (my daughter’s) and my dad’s return for Christmas day lunch (beef tenderloin).

Clean ups were massive – the dishwasher didn’t work!

But the faces of my loved ones, hugs and loving gratitude made everything so special for me.

On our last day we sat for a few hours with two more guests (my sister-in-laws) who came to linger over coffee and enjoy the view. The view was spectacular and we pleasantly wound down talking and reminiscing about the festive week.

The amenities were top notch and we loved the Breville Toaster Oven so much (I cooked the tenderloin in it) that we bought ourselves one! It’s being delivered this Friday. But, the couch wasn’t conducive to lying back and watching TV. The TV was small and just wasn’t the same for watching holiday foot ball games. And, entertaining 6-days in a row is exhausting!

It was a beautiful experience and a great way to have all my family visit, but in the end, after every decoration was bagged and boxed, every wooden countertop wiped down and every left over crumb vacuumed up, we drove out of sight and made our way home.

It was so good to settle back into our cozy place and over the next two days there were numerous times that we looked over at each other as we cuddled up on our couch and said, “It’s so good to be home.”

I hope your holidays were sweet and just a little bit exhausting so that when they were over you weren’t so much glad to see them go, but happy to settle back into your own nest, no matter how big or how small and think, there’s no place like home.

All my best,

Lisa