Christmas Eve is probably my favorite holiday of the year, even with everything that’s happening and sudden cancellations (let’s just skip this 2021 and 2020). And the evening dinner is definitely the thing I missed the most about not being home.

If I could have ONE teleporting roundtrip, it would be to go home and back, only for this one night. Not a doubt in my mind.

The food, oh the food, (here, check it out. Googled it for you). I try to avoid eating ‘christmas dishes’ throughout the year just to make the season even more exquisite. Btw, we start celebrating “Christmas” right after Black Friday weekend, and it doesn’t end till mid January. So, it’s basically a month and a half of partying, great food and road trips to the rural-mountain side.

Christmas Eve dinner pig-out and drinking.
Passing out with a food coma or drunkenness (maybe both?).
Waking up for presents and reheated leftovers.
A better combination doesn’t exist.

Here in the Midwest is a completely different experience.
Staying inside, instead of outdoor patio get-togethers (of course, Winter temperatures. Not much to do about that). Quieter, no… Less loud, maybe even less festive? Caribbean people go all out during Christmas time, in terms of food, drink, live music, parties, special events, etc. And the food? Well, I’m not even gonna’ compare. Keeping my mouth shut for this one.

Here —to me— it feels like a couple of individual gatherings that start at X time and end at Y time. You can mark a before and after. Whereas back home, it’s one continuing party for over 30 days. Everything kinda blurs into one. Come the end of January, and we’re looking back: “Damn, Christmas season already ended. Can’t believe how fast it flew by, right?” (Insert work parties, friend get togethers, family dinners, special events, day-drinking, hangover recovery the next day, etc. LMAO)

Don’t get me wrong. Not dissing my *new home* at all. I chose to live in Ohio. It was a conscious, well-informed decision, and absolutely no regrets. It’s great here. Wouldn’t change anything about it and would do it again, if I had to.

We always want what we can’t have at the moment.
Even if what you want is just one couple-of-hours flight away.