How Christmas Shaped Our Travels

Growing up I have great memories of Christmas. It always felt like miracles were happening all around us. My Mother would go all out to make the holiday so special. As kids, we knew that our parents worked really hard for us and that there were times when as a family, we struggled. But no matter what was under that tree, my parents made us feel like we were special and that Santa had visited our house.

When I became a Mom I knew that I wanted to continue the same traditions. As a Mother Christmas became a stressful time for me. I wanted everything to be PERFECT. I wanted to recreate the magic of Christmas, just like the one in my own childhood. When our boys were younger I was much less stressed about what it “looked” like and more stressed about how it would feel like for them. Several years and a few kids later, Social Media began to alter my expectations and I was no longer grateful. If I felt like that, I can’t imagine what we were teaching our children.

As parents, we often want to give our children more than we had. We realized several years into parenting that our kids’ Christmas lists kept getting longer and more expensive. Their expectations were no longer aligning with the values that we wanted to be instilling in them. We knew that we wanted to find an alternative. One that would teach them how to be grateful, thoughtful, appreciative and humble.

How do we do that? And how do we do that without “ruining” the magic of Christmas. Some might think we are robbing our children of the stereotypical Christmas morning, where they tear open fancy presents and scream with joy. I disagree. If you are a parent then you must know how long that joy lasts and they choose the box over the toy. They will soon utter the words “I’m bored,” and ask for the next “cool” thing that their friends have.

But, how do we break the news? KIDS! Mom and Dad will NOT be buying you ANY presents this year! *Gasp!* The truth is as soon as we spoke those words aloud our kids faces were in disbelief, sadness and even anger. This only solidified for us that we were making the best decision for them. We explained that we would be traveling as a family for Christmas and that would be their present. As a family we would also decide how to donate time and money in some way to people and projects that matter to us.

These past few years as a family we have visited so many countries, met great people, ate amazing food, flown thousands of miles and had the best time together. Is it always rainbows and sunshine? NO! There are tears, arguments and fits of ungratefulness, but we make the best of it. We call these growing pains. We have learned how to live in a carry-on. That it pays to have travel health insurance because Food Poisoning in another country SUCKS. That we need to carry dramamine for the kids. They’ve learned about history, other cultures and now know several phrases in several languages. But most of all, my kids have learned that Christmas is not about the presents, it's about family. That first Christmas in Italy was a tough one for them. Now as the holidays get close, they begin to daydream about our future adventures. Which makes it all worth it my friends.

COMMON QUESTIONS:

Do they get presents at all? YES. Each country has unique traditions that we try to teach them about. In 2017 we were in Rome, Italy where “La Befana” or “The Christmas Witch,” leaves presents for the kids. On Christmas morning my kids woke up to stockings full of treasures and candy from Italy. The girls got Italian baby dolls, Romeo got a local futbol jersey and Dev a local VANS shirt.

How do the kids react on Christmas morning with no presents? Well, they do get a few things in their stockings. The rule is that we have to find things to fit inside their stocking. Keeps us accountable, is typically low-cost and small enough for them to carry in a backpack. The first Christmas the kids asked if the “big presents” were back at our house. To which our reply was… “No, your gift was waking up in Rome this morning.” That was it. We set the standard and they no longer have unrealistic expectations.

How much do you pack for the holidays? The first year we brought our regular stockings and quickly realized that it was too much. Every year since we have carried a set of small stockings that fit into a ziplock bag. The kids all carry their own stuff in a small backpack which includes their gifts, iPads, and any souvenirs they get. We also make a Tree each year as a craft with the kids and they get very creative.

Aren’t they too young? Absolutely not. My kids talk all of the time about the places we’ve gone. Penelope was 3 when we went to Rome and the Swiss Alps. She talks about that train ride through the Alps quite often and remembered visiting the Colosseum when we discussed it during homeschooling. The value of this tradition is introducing them to new cultures, lifestyles, languages, religions and most of all being good human beings to everyone they meet.

How much does this cost? I will make a separate blog post all about this topic, but believe it or not, it is MUCH cheaper than you are thinking. This is my favorite thing to talk about. Think about how much you spend on EVERYTHING this Christmas. We would rather put that money into traveling and save up all year for that instead of material things.

Our Christmas Adventures Around The World: