WARBRIDES-L Archives

Archiver > WARBRIDES > 2005-12 > 1135216306


From: "Joan Reichardt" <>
Subject: Christmas Greetings
Date: Wed, 21 Dec 2005 19:06:40 -0800


I want to wish everybody on the list a very merry and happy Christmas and hope for a healthy New Year! I just got back from a whirlwind pre Christmas trip to London, with my 3 daughters and their three daughters - no boys allowed!! We left, quite by coincidence, on the very day that 61 years previously I met their dad and grandpa! We had a flat in London that was right in the heart of things and we went like whirling dervishes trying to see as much as possibly. My daughters and my oldest granddaughter have all been to England before, but it was a first for the two younger girls, and none of us had actually stayed in London for a whole week. We covered a lot of ground, both on foot and off and on trains, busses, the tube and taxis, including the Tower, St.Pauls, the London Eye, Harrods, shopping on Oxford and Regents Streets, the Changing of the Guard, a boat ride on the Thames, AND a visit to Richmond, where they got the nostalgia tour of where I lived, went to school, !
went to church and met my husband. We also went to Salisbury and Bury St.Edmunds for a day each to 'do' the markets, and went to the Lyceum to see the Lion King. Overall,it was a real test of endurance but I survived. I am now very happy to be home again. I have always loved Christmas, and throughout my life have had nothing but good times and happy Christmasses . As a child I was very fortunate, probably spoiled, as the only child in a large extended family, and our Christmasses as a family when the kids were young, were magical. My husband loved all the trappings of Christmas and I certainly miss him at this time of the year, but we still have good times as a family. I have decided that the best pre Christmas present I ever received was when I met that tall, red haired, 20 year old Canadian soldier, and as a result got to live where I live now, and have the life I have.
It is such a privilege to live in a country where an interview with RCAF personel this morning solemnly discussed fighter planes tracking, not enemy planes, but Santa and his reindeer, and where Canada Post sees that every letter to Santa gets a reply. I was shopping in town today (in the rain) and met and exchnged greetings with many people I know because this is a small community. Last night I was one of a group of volunteers who put on a Christmas dinner for residents of subsidized housing for seniors and I don't know who enjoyed it more - us or them! The other night some of my kids and grandkids (and one step great grandchild) came out to decorate my tree, I am so lucky to have them nearby and ready to help out when I need them.
So, having experienced the crowds, the traffic, the lack of courtesy, the rush, the noise that is London (where I once worked) I am more grateful than ever to call Canada my home.
All the best for the festive season, from one appreciative war bride,
Joan Reichardt


This thread: