We don’t have any big plans for the holidays. We’ll celebrate Tom’s birthday tomorrow by going to dinner at Luna Rosa, a short walk from our building. We spent my birthday there last February when our friends Rita and Gerhard suddenly appeared, having flown here from Vancouver, Washington, to surprise me. What a surprise it was!
There won’t be any surprises for Tom when he doesn’t even want me to buy him a gift when we have no room in our luggage and a need for so little. We gave up giving each other gifts for special occasions when we left for our world travels over 12 years ago. Our gift to one another has been the opportunity to continue to travel the world over all these years.
Yesterday, for the holidays, I made keto fudge and keto white fudge using recipes from several years ago when I first began eating this way. It’s wonderful to have a few treats for the holidays. Moments ago, I put two tin foil cake pans of Tom’s favorite cake, German Chocolate, into the oven to bake. Once it’s done and cooled, I’ll frost it.
Each night, he’ll savor a piece of the cake that will last several days since I won’t eat any of it. Instead, I’ll have a few pieces of the fudge as a special treat this holiday season.
Usually, on Christmas Eve, we have steak and lobster tail and prime rib on Christmas Day. But after seeing the prices at the supermarkets in the area, I decided to make a seldom-made favorite dish, Keto Chicken, Sausage, and Cauliflower Bake, making enough to last to both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, along with a big salad and rice for Tom.
We’ll enjoy our meals with a glass of wine for me and a cocktail for Tom, Christmas music, and great conversation. No, we don’t have any Christmas decorations, but all we have to do is walk down that one flight of stairs to the Village, and the holiday spirit will surround us.
We are as cheerful as possible. We love our time here. We are looking forward to seeing family when they return from vacation after the holidays and enjoying every day during our remaining 69 days until we begin the long journey to South Africa on March 1. We’ll arrive on March 3 and then cherish the joys of seeing the wild animals and our many friends in the bush, including friends Kathy and Don, who will join us there from Hawaii a week after we arrive.
On Christmas Day, we’ll probably take a walk in the morning and enjoy football in the afternoon, in between phone calls to and from family and friends. For us, living this peculiar lifestyle is as good as it gets. There is lots of love in our lives from family, friends, and readers, wonders awaiting us, and an itinerary we can’t wait to share on Christmas Day.
We will continue to post daily, even the trivialities of our daily lives, over the holidays and days to come in the New Year. May your holiday season be filled with love, faith, and hope for the future.
Be well.
Photo from ten years ago today, December 22, 2014:
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