At this wonderful time of year, we often get asked how do you do it? Christmas travelling full time in a camper, not just physically but mentally too.
Logistically a lot had to change. We no longer have room for a Christmas tree and all the sparkly decorations, we can’t overfill the Santa sacks and stockings with toys and there is no longer the gourmet breakfast, family lunch and finishing off with the seafood dinner feast.
Yes, technically you could still have all this, but since leaving home we have truly embraced the simpler life, living a minimalistic lifestyle with more of that what we need rather than want has really changed the way we prioritise and think.
So, although there is no tree, we have a few mini cardboard cut-out decorations that the boys sit on our shelf when we are set up for the night and we do Christmas craft with the home-schooling tasks which double up as deco’s too. We have for a few years now, but this year particularly we have only picked gifts that were needed, instantly usable gifts like new bike helmets, fishing hand reels and a Fitbit watch each for the kids- all of which we carefully hide in black bags in the back of the Prado or in the shower. We do have less access to certain foods on the road and storage for said food, so we look at making one special meal for the day instead and/or meeting up with another family and joining the festive celebrations together.
Traditions, as minimalists we only have a handful but one is our annual family portrait which we happen to have with the old white bearded man. Being nomads and travelling frequently we picked a location timed it with Santa hours and the boys got their pre-Christmas prep chat with Santa and we had our photo posted ahead of us to pick up a week later.
Now comes the mentally part. Christmas can be a headache for any parent, let alone ones that have their kids full time and live in a single room… But some stealthy shopping days, online shopping and parcel collect, late nights wrapping, some clever code words and creative packing- it’s actually been quite fun.
This year Ryan and I have actually enjoyed the lead up to Christmas as we have got to do it together for once. We planned together, online shopped together and arranged a great new location to spend our Christmas week.
Being together has made the process special and has connected us all so we haven’t concentrated on the fact that we haven’t got our favourite people around us this year- we did send them Christmas Cards instead to let them know we were still thinking of them. To top off the Christmas spirit in our family- whilst we have our school days and drive days, we listen to Christmas Carols, namely Pentatonix and good old Michael Bublé. This always calms the mood and brings on the excitement of our first Christmas on the road together.
There are always ways to make a day just like Christmas special, whether you are at home or on the road – it just about how you approach it and with what mindset you choose. Merry Christmas to all.