Years ago, a Thunder Bay colleague told me they made a point of going away each Christmas to avoid the stress and hustle-bustle of Christmas, even if it was just as far as Duluth, Minneapolis, or along Minnesota’s North Shore. According to him, they never regretted their choice, totally enjoying their relaxing getaways. On the other hand, I had always looked forward to celebrating Christmas at home with family and friends. But in 2002, we did break tradition and had our first Christmas away.
We booked a family Christmas stay in a couple of rooms at the beautiful Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia (BC) on Vancouver Island. It was easy to get everyone together as two of my daughters were already in BC—one attending university and the other working—and the third was teaching university in Calgary, Alberta. The historic Empress Hotel opened in 1908 and is located downtown on the Inner Harbour, a perfect place to be during Christmas as the whole area is lit up with thousands of Christmas lights. The holiday season magic continued inside the hotel, where a large decorated Christmas tree at the entrance greeted guests and on the second floor, the hotel’s annual Festival of Trees was a dazzling forest of more than 75 beautifully-decorated trees.
On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed the wonderful buffet in the ballroom. On Christmas morning, carollers wandered through the halls singing Christmas songs and when we opened the door, there were Christmas stockings of goodies for each of us hanging on the doorknobs. Our first family Christmas ‘away’ in Victoria was a fun, special time that surpassed our expectations.
A few years later, our next Christmas away was spent at a resort in Arizona, arriving in Mesa late on Christmas Day. We picked up our rental car, waited for the other family members to arrive, and by the time we left the airport, everyone was hungry for a nice holiday meal. But we soon found out there was a problem—all the restaurants had closed and the one at our resort was booked solid with reservations. Finally, after driving around for a bit, we found a fast-food drive-in called Sonic that was still open. We chuckled as we dined on a Christmas Day dinner of hamburgers, fries, onion rings, and pop, while sitting in our ‘dining-rental-car’ in the almost empty parking lot.
Four years ago, we had a Caribbean Christmas in the Dominican Republic at an all-inclusive resort in Punta Cana. It was a “Westjet Vacation Package” gift from our daughters and was a direct Christmas Day flight from Thunder Bay on a half-empty plane (felt like we had our own private flight). Arriving at the Punta Cana International Airport with its palm trees, thatched roof, and a welcoming band playing the island’s merengue music put us right into the tropical holiday mode. The resort’s van drove us to 96-acre Bavaro Princess Resort for our week’s stay in a suite at one of their two-storey villas.
It was kind of funky seeing the resort’s reception area decorated in festive garlands, with Christmas music playing and the staff wearing Santa red-and-white hats with jingle bells, while nearby was a tropical pool with lush gardens and exotic animals. It was late in the evening by the time we checked in and went to eat at the resort’s all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant. And wow, I had never seen such a large selection and quantity of food and drinks in one place. It was a gourmet Christmas Day dinner.
During our stay, one off-site excursion we particularly enjoyed was the day-long Outback Safari, which took us by small tour bus to the countryside, passing through small villages, visiting a chocolate plantation, and having a Dominican-style family lunch at a hilltop ranch, followed by a tour of its fruit plantation, a small zoo, and shopping at its Rum Shack. The last stop was at a gorgeous secluded beach for some water fun boogie boarding.
One of my favourite trips was travelling to Calgary to spend time with my grandson Alexander, who was experiencing his first Christmas. We cooked the traditional turkey dinner with oven-roasted potatoes, sweet-and-sour sauerkraut (made just the way my mom used to make it), real cranberry sauce, and all the trimmings. The highlight of that special Christmas time was spending an evening with the family at the Calgary Zoo to experience their annual Zoolights with its amazing seasonal display of 1.5 million Christmas lights, plus its igloo-building, ice-carving demonstrations, reindeer stables, carolling, fire pits where you can warm up, and more.
Admittedly, breaking tradition to spend Christmas away is relaxing and makes for some wonderful memories. Likewise, I also cherish memories from years of celebrating Christmas at home with all its hustle-bustle, shopping, visiting, and putting up glitzy Christmas decorations, like my lighted polar bear, reindeer, and moose set up on the front lawn outside my house.
Wishing everyone the best for the holiday season and much happiness in the New Year!