{"id":4080,"date":"2013-01-09T11:02:16","date_gmt":"2013-01-09T11:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=4080"},"modified":"2016-07-10T22:26:06","modified_gmt":"2016-07-10T22:26:06","slug":"where-the-heart-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/where-the-heart-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Where the Heart is…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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And they say that at Christmas all roads lead home… And they do, around 6 hours after we had left Cologne!<\/p>\n

We spent Christmas itself in a beautiful cottage in a tiny Hampshire village, with my sister and her partner (who proved to be a good in-house children’s entertainer – thank you Andy!)… \u00a0 The cottage proved to be the perfect environment for a family Christmas, and was equipped to the nines with everything we could think of.\u00a0 The owners had even kindly stuck up a Christmas tree for us, and left a bottle of Fizz in the fridge too – both of which were most welcome. \u00a0 Situated on the edge of woodland in an area of outstanding natural beauty, there are hundreds of walks on your doorstep, and a very fabulous 13th century Inn<\/a> just up the road for when the weather’s bad\u00a0 (which turned out to be most of the time on this occasion!), I couldn’t recommend this place enough for a stay in the sticks, it is truly gorgeous.\u00a0 Just don’t all book it at once, I want to stay there again,\u00a0 and if you do book it – make sure to tell them I sent you!…<\/p>\n

With my Mum up the road and other family close at hand, it proved to be the best Christmas in the three years since we have been away.\u00a0 As much as I enjoy learning about different cultures and their celebrations and all that, sometimes you can’t beat those that you have grown up with.\u00a0\u00a0 Anyway, other countries don’t sell Heston Blumenthal’s Figgy pudding with Sticky Toffee Filling, and that (as a finale to Christmas Dinner), was almost worth the 12 hour drive in itself!<\/p>\n

We spent Boxing day with my Grandparents, a traditional family get together day for us.\u00a0\u00a0 It was wonderful to be able to rejoin these celebrations, as to be honest it’s this kind of thing that I have missed the most since our Expat jaunt began.\u00a0\u00a0 For the Small People to be able to enjoy the company of these cherished wise souls, and get to know them even better was probably the best Christmas present of all.<\/p>\n

\"Generational<\/a><\/p>\n

Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandaughter enjoying a Festive Lunch Together<\/em><\/p>\n

New Year was equally nice and was spent in London, with my Dad and Step-Mother… And then before we knew it, the time had come to load up the (by now heavily laden) car and start the journey back again.<\/p>\n

We left at 6am on a suprisingly empty M25, and to the most spectacular sunrise – the beauty of which didn’t exactly help my emotional state.\u00a0 I hate leaving, I always have.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 That familiar rush of feelings about not wanting to leave friends and family behind, what we have given up, and how our lives could have been had we stayed, usually has me going through a “cross about it all” phase, and a mini rebellion against our lives here often ensues (empty promises to myself to give up language lessons and the like for example).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thankfully having done this for over three years now, I know it doesn’t take long for the negative feelings to disappear, and now that school is back, I am currently enjoying getting back into a routine (and yes, those German lessons!).\u00a0\u00a0 It’s nice to be back…<\/p>\n

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