Fakesgiving, Navidad – No Verdad, and Goodbye For Now

Now I know no one feels sorry for us as we leave on our great adventure, but it is tough to leave. 6 months can be a lengthy period of time and I’m not fond of goodbyes.

My sense of adventure has taken me from Wisconsin to Minnesota, all over Europe, to my new home in California, and now South America. I’m no stranger to goodbyes but that doesn’t make them any easier. Especially, since Marea and I are leaving during the biggest family and friends celebrations of them all- Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Luckily, we’re spoiled enough to have it all.

It started with our trip back to see my family in Wisconsin. We wanted to get in one last hangout before leaving for so long. We were going to miss the usual Thanksgiving festivities by 2 weeks, so my mom asked, “should we just have Thanksgiving early?”

Of course! She coerced the extended family to come (including my cousin coming home from college for the weekend) just to celebrate with us. We enjoyed every tradition- stuffing, red stuff, turkey nametags, singing, and everyone just being us.

It was early, it was fun, it was perfect.

It was FAKESgiving.

After a great trip to Wisconsin, we packed up our lives in San Diego and headed to Northern California to see Marea’s family (the in-laws!!) and fly out of SFO to begin our trip on December 3rd.

Laurie, of course didn’t want us to miss our usual California Christmas celebration but realized “FAKESmas” just wasn’t going to work. So, the spanish teacher that she is, decided we’d instead celebrate “Navidad, no verdad” (translation: “not real Christmas”).

The full festivities ensued. We enjoyed the traditional Christmas eve soup on Sunday night, washed Grandma Betty’s windows for her annual xmas gift, and gorged on Christmas day cinnamon rolls Tuesday morning.

It’s so nice when you get to decided what days the holidays work out best for your schedule. I highly encourage all to give it a try!

Our journey hasn’t even left the country yet and we’re already experiencing the giving spirit of people. As we continue to disconnect from life as we currently know it and begin to explore more of the unknown, we’ll take comfort in the overwhelming love of our family and friends. Thank you for the fun parties, housing our belongings, and your encouragement and support. We are so very fortunate to have you all in our lives.

I hope you enjoy the stories and bloopers from our travels. Hearts and stars!!