Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories - Dec13, 2011 Holiday Travel

Holiday Travel



Did you or your ancestors travel anywhere for Christmas? How did you travel and who traveled with you? Do you remember any special trips?

Growing up, we were fortunate enough to live close to our relatives. In those days travel meant perhaps 30 minutes in the car, but mostly they came to visit us. My dad's family may have traveled from Chicago to Milwaukee for the holidays but that would have been about the extent of any travel.

After I married and had children, we traveled to both Elmhurst and Wheaton for the holidays. At the time we lived in Elburn and travel was limited to about 30 to 45 minutes. Hardly travel as it is measured today.

In 1976, with both sets of grandparents having moved to Florida, my husband and I loaded up the kids and car for a journey to Florida. We stopped in St Pete Beach to visit Dave's parents and spent Christmss Eve with them and on Christmas Dat attemped to leave for my mother's in Pompano Beach , on the east coast. Unfortunately our car refused to start. It was Christmas Day! We needed a new battery! After calling around, my husband and father-in-law found a gas station near the Interstate that was open and had a battery. Once it was purchased and installed we were on our way! We finally reached Pompano Beach in time for a late supper on Christmas with my mother and my sisters Peggy and Alice and brother Don who had moved to Florida with her. The highlight of the trip for my kids was swimming in both the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean in a single trip.

Later traveling for the holidays was limited to trips within Florida except for the year we went to Georgia to cut down a tree and bring it to Florida.

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