We don’t buy a Christmas tree. We don’t have any Christmas decorations. We don’t send or receive Christmas cards other than thoughtful wishes on Facebook and through email from our many readers worldwide.
But, over the past several years, we have received a solitary Christmas card, which at times required a lot of effort to get to us from our dear friends Kathy and Don, whom we met ten years ago on Christmas Eve in Marloth Park. We may have told this story a few times in the past. But today, it was especially meaningful for us to tell it one more time for our newer readers who may not have seen it.
We arrived in Marloth Park for the first time in early December 2013. At that time, rental cars were outrageously expensive, so during those three months, we used the services of a driver, Okey Dokey, who became a precious friend to us as well. She was able to take us everywhere we needed to go for a reasonable cost, and we spent a lot of time with her.
Early on in our visit to Marloth Park, Leon, who has since become dear friends with his partner Dawn, owners of Jabula Lodge and Restaurant, picked us up at our holiday home, the Hornbill house, to take us on a game drive-through Marloth Park, ending at their restaurant where we had a spectacular dinner and made more friends.
Lynne and Mick were seated outdoors on the veranda, and Leon made the effort to introduce us to this lovely couple from the island of Jersey, UK. The four of us hit it off, so much so that they drove us back to the house later that night. They told us they’d connect us with dear friends Kathy and Don, who have a beautiful house in Marloth Park overlooking the Crocodile River.
We didn’t meet Kathy and Don until Christmas Eve, 2013, when they invited us to dinner at their home, never having met us. How brave they were to include us at their lovely Christmas Eve dinner when they’d never met us! With no plans of our own, we were honored to be invited.
As soon as we met Kathy and Don, I suspected we’d be friends for a long time. Little did we know at that time the depth of this friendship that has grown and endured over the past ten years. We have been blessed to make many close friends in Marloth Park over the years. If you are reading this, you know who you are and how much you mean to us.
Last week, while we were seated on the sofa, as I was preparing a post and Tom was watching football on his laptop, we heard a light tap on the door to our condo. I jumped up to see who was there to find the gorgeous Christmas arrangement as shown in today’s main photo.
We both were shocked to receive such a surprise and couldn’t imagine who it was from. It only took a moment to read the attached card to realize it was from Kathy and Don. My heart did a flip-flop with sheer delight. Only a few days earlier, when Kathy and I chatted on the phone (from their home in Hawaii), I mentioned that we had no decorations for Christmas.
We could hardly haul decorations around the world with us or spend money on a single year’s use of decorations. Years ago, Tom and I resigned ourselves that we’d never decorate as long as we were traveling. That may change if and when we ever stop traveling, but right now, we don’t see that in our immediate future.
That beautiful arrangement has meant so much to us, a reminder of the holiday season right before our eyes. In some ways, it looks like a Christmas tree. We thank our friends for their thoughtfulness, their friendship, and the heartwarming memories we’ve made together throughout the years.
We thank Kathy, Don, and all of our precious friends, readers, and family members for the joy they’ve brought into our lives throughout the years as we look to the future with love, hope, and determination for more amazing memories and adventures.
Merry Christmas!
Photo from ten years ago today, December 25, 2013:
