Quite a few RVs have left Rainbow Plantation here in Summerdale, Alabama as people head off for the holidays. We have talked to people who are going as far north as Louisville and as far west as California to be with family and friends. Others, like us, are hunkering down in a comfortable RV park somewhere until after New Years.
We have done it both ways, enjoying the holidays with RVing friends in different parts of the country, and returning to Arizona to celebrate with Terry’s parents, sisters, and their families. Each has been special it its own way. Last Christmas we were in Aransas Pass, Texas, and Terry and I spent the day together, just the two of us, and that was very special too.
My daughter Tiffany and her kids live in our old hometown of Show Low, Arizona, and since that is mountain country where the snow can pile up, we have not been there with them at Christmas. But those little girls of hers are getting older and I think one of these days we’re just going to have to bite the bullet and do that, even if we leave the motorhome in a park in the Apache Junction area and stay in a motel while we’re there.
Our RVing lifestyle has introduced us to some different holiday traditions in different parts of the country. In east Texas, people set off fireworks at Christmas and on New Years, which is noisy, but a lot safer than the fools who fire guns into the air to ring in the New Year. Down south, folks eat black eyes peas on New Years Day for luck, and in Florida one year, we were introduced to deep fried turkey, which was absolutely delicious.
Most RV parks that cater to snowbirds and fulltimers have a Christmas dinner, usually a potluck. Often the campground will furnish the turkeys or ham, and everybody else brings a plate to pass around. These are usually busy, festive occasions, and everybody has a good time. You can always tell the real cooks, like Miss Terry, because they bring wonderful dishes that took a lot of time and effort, while those who are not into the culinary arts often bring pies, rolls or a cheese or vegetable platter from a grocery store. It doesn’t matter, because it’s all delicious and it all disappears!
Sometimes, instead of putting together a big meal, a group of RVers will all get together and go out for their Christmas dinner, letting the folks at a local restaurant do all the work, and giving the ladies a break.
Wherever Terry and I are for the holidays, it doesn’t matter because we’re together, and that makes it home.
Where do you spend your holidays? Do you return back to wherever home is, or was, to be with the kids and grandkids, or do you hang out with RVing friends? Do you go to different places for the holidays each year, or always return to one place that you enjoy?
Thought For The Day – He who dies with the most toys is still dead.
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Nick and Terry,
The true southern “good luck dish” for New Year’s Day is called ‘Hoppin John’, which is a mixture of black-eyed peas, rice and bacon bits. As far as the luck goes, we know it comes from up above. Not sure Big Daddy’s serves Hoppin John.
We will head out tomorrow for Louisville with a watchful eye on the weather. We surely wish you and Terry the best Christmas yet!
This year we are spending Christmas at our park here in Mission, Texas, at the rec hall with my Mom and Dad. Always a big dinner with lots of food! We have also spent Christmas at our son’s place in Florida which included our daughter and family. It’s a pretty safe bet we won’t be spending Christmas at our daugher’s in Charlottesville, Virginia. . . heh, heh. The snow started there Friday evening and as of yesterday at noon, they had 20 inches and it was still coming down fast and hard. That town is paralyzed with 4 inches of snow. My SIL telecommutes from home, they are warm and cozy and my grandson is enjoying playing outside with the dog and family. They are loving it. . . I am enjoying the pictures.
Hi Nick & Terry,
Are you leaving Alabama before Christmas? We spent Christmas there a few years ago. It was a great Christmas surrounded by our SKP family. The past 3 years we have spent Christmas on our lot at Retama Village in the Texas Valley. Here we are among our HDT and Retama Village family. We have a tradition of spending Christmas Day walking on the beach. We take a bottle of Champagne, some cheese and crackers and celebrate our wonderful life together. We have done that for the past 24 years. Sometimes we have to drive a ways to get there but we don’t let that stop us. When we are here in Texas, we drive about 90 miles to South Padre Island for the day. When we were in Summerdale, we only had to drive a few miles to Gulf Shores. When we lived in Tallahassee, Fl, we drove a hundred or so miles to St George Island or Panama City Beach for the day. The only time we couldn’t find a beach to go to was when we spent our Christmas at North Ranch. 🙂 Hope you guys have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are.
Big Hugs……………..Pat and Mike
Merry Christmas Nick and Terry.
We are like Pat and Mike. We find a beach on Christmas Day and bring a picnic lunch and a bottle of wine.
This week we are hitching up the house and leaving the Ocala area for a coast. Don’t know yet if it will be the East or Gulf yet and won’t know until we leave but we intend to find one of them and head south until we hit Mile Marker 0 in the Keys and then come back the other side. We will meet up with several RV friends along the way.
Helen
Nick/Terry
This will be our first Christmas and News Years away from family and friends. We will call them on Christmas and catch up on their day. I suspect we will meet here in the park with fellow workampers and the snow birds where we eat too much and laugh and enjoy the day minus the snow storm in Ohio. By days end we will fall into bed..talk about our day and count our blessings as we drift of to sleep. Karen and I wish you and Terry a wondeful Christmas and Happy New Year. We also send those seasons greetings to all your blog readers.
May 2010 be the filled love and peace to all,
From our home on wheels to yours
Tom & Karen
Merry Christmas Terry & Nick
We went fulltime in 2007 and in both 07 & 08 we volunteered at CARE in Nov. & Dec. It was like being home with family. This year we left our RV in Tenn. and drove back to Pa. to spend Christmas with our family. It’s been as low as 7 degrees and yesterday it snowed and the snow plows have been going up and down the road. Next year we’ll be somewhere in the deep south.
Here’s hoping everyone in the RV’ing community has a great holiday season
Tom & Paula
This will be our 5th year on the road for Christmas. But we are lucky. Our Daughter and grandkids live in Dothan, AL, so we will spend Christmas here. After New Years, we will leave and head to Apache Junction and visit our son, who lives in Scottsdale, AZ. So full time RVing fits us nicely.
Are you going to be in Arizona at all before March? The weather is great here in Apache Junction; 72 degrees yesterday and no rain for the last week. Hard to believe it’s almost officially wintertime when the weather is warmer than average but it makes for some nice days outside (especially if you’re a golfer).
This Christmas is new for us, a little bit. As always we’ll enjoy dinner at home in our RV, but this year I (Jerry) will do all the cooking, as Suzy will still be “out of service” due to her shoulder replacement surgery, which went well. We hope to have friends come for dinner, but they are reticent due to Suzy’s recovery. We’ll know in a day or two whether to take the prime rib roast (for four) or the ham (for two) out of the freezer!
Blessed Christmas with a Capital C to all of us!
Nick and Terry,
We all alternate among our son’s house in CA, our daughter’s house in VA, and our house in FL for the holidays. So we are warm 2 years out of 3! Thank heaven this year is not in VA! Our daughter is still snowed in.
We both hope you two have a wonderful Christmas. You deserve it!
This is our first Christmas as full-timers! We will be in Georgia (Pine Mountain) to be with our son, who is single, for the holidays. He is our only child and we don’t want him to spend the holidays alone. We are hoping to head for Rainbow Plantation after Christmas…. sometime around Dec. 29th.
We hope you and Terry have a really wonderful Christmas together and a healthy, blessed New Year. We are hoping to make it to the rally in Sept. We look forward to meeting you both.
Mike and Gerri
Our first year of RVing, our kids joined us in South Texas. The next year, we were alone and most of the other park residents had gone “home” for Christmas. We found one couple still there and we had dinner together. It was a good time and we made two new friends. Can’t remember much of the other years. I do know one year, we were just us two and we watched a Hallmark movie marathon on TV, grilled hamburgers and had a wonderful relaxing day.
We are “home” this winter taking care of some health issues and so tomorrow morning we will head east to our daughter’s for a week. Our other daughter and her family will join us on Wednesday and we will celebrate Christmas together this year.
Best wishes to you all for a Merry Christmas and a Happy, safe and healthy New Year!
Marry Christmas Nick and Terry
Like many others that responded to this blog, Patti and I will have our first Christmas out of home this year. We just spent Chanukah here in Indian Point, MS and heading west to New Orleans for Christmas (Patti is Luthern, and I am Jewish)
We hope to find a campsite that will give us the family warmth for the holiday, but we are learning and observing.
Our family is up in MN and staying there with RV is not even a possibility for us. We are so happy to be here in the south away from the sub-freezing weather.
If you have any suggestions – We would be happy to learn
Happy holidays
Patti and Motty
We’ll be spending Christmas in the Keys at Bahia Honda. Wish you were here…