Last Christmas was bittersweet. I was away from home (had been for six months), and felt nostalgic during the whole month of December. I was living in Tunisia (still am), and was sad to spend another Christmas far away from my country and my family, but mostly to spend the holidays surrounded by palm trees rather than snow-covered pines and a beautiful tall traditional Christmas tree. It was not my first 25th December abroad, but it was my loneliest. I had almost no work to do during that year’s last month, and my significant other was in Paris for two weeks. I usually decorate my tree, admire the snowflakes, and sing carols in December, but last year, I felt sad and alone. I wanted to go home.
Then, just a few days before Christmas, my boyfriend called me to say that his grandfather had invited us to spend a few days (December 23 to 26) in Cannes with him. He had even booked us a hotel room, I only had to hop on the first flight (which my s.o. offered me as a part of my Christmas gifts!) There is obviously no snow in the South of France, but the idea of spending the holidays in a country where people actually celebrate Christmas seduced me right away (Tunisia is a Muslim country).
On December 23rd, I embarked on my short flight from Tunis to Nice. I was so excited to see my s.o. after two weeks apart. I missed him like crazy and had butterflies in my stomach throughout the whole flight! At the Nice airport, after passing customs, I finally saw him, my beautiful lovely love 🙂 I felt like a little girl and ran across the arrivals to jump into his arms. At that moment, I knew right away that this was going to be a great Christmas. I met his grandfather as well, a very classy gentleman. We went to a park to eat crepes and enjoy the warm winter sun all together, and my s.o. and I went to our hotel afterwards. We had supper at his grandfather’s house that night, and the two days after, we almost only drank and ate over there, as a family. There was champagne and oysters at every meal! It was perfect.
My short stay in Cannes was fabulous! I had visited the city before, but this time was different. We laughed, walked around the city, sat in cafes on the Croisette, admire the expensive yachts in the port, exchanged presents… I felt welcomed, and although I was not actually home, it felt a little bit like it, and I can truly say that that short vacation put a balm on my Canadian nostalgia. I got the opportunity to skype with my whole family too, which filled my heart with glee as well.
We left for the Nice airport in the afternoon of the 26th of December. We landed in Marseilles, and took our second flight to Tunis shortly after. We were tired from our holiday marathon, but also at peace and refreshed, ready to tackle a new year abroad.
Those holidays taught me once again that home is not a geographical place, home is people who love you and make you feel happy and at ease. Yes, as cheesy as it might be, home truly is where the heart is!
Bittersweet Travel Memories 