Christmas in an RV can be a greatl experience! We wondered, that first year that we were traveling, if Christmas would be as wonderful and as meaningful as it always was to us in the house. This year will be our 3rd Christmas ‘houseless’; and we have found that we may just enjoy Christmas all the more without the house! 
Granted, there are some ‘sacrifices’ that we have had to adjust to in this smaller space – we don’t decorate quite as much; while we keep a small artificial tree and a few ornaments, all our other decorations are made by the kids, and renewed each year. We also don’t bake quite as much as we did while we were in the house. And we do have to put more consideration into gifts for our family – no trampolines, gun safes, or big doll houses anymore – there just isn’t room for them in our RV.
But we have also found that we tend to pick up more and more of our ‘old’ traditions each year – finding a way to make them happen, RV style. We don’t bake on the same scale that we used to for the holidays, but we still decorate cookies (now we just take short cuts like boughten dough and frosting…), make almond bark covered pretzels, and decorate a small tree. We decorate our living room slides and make paper snowflakes for the windows above them. The kids make popcorn strings for the tree (and anywhere else we let them hang them), and the littles like to decorate gingerbread-man shaped cutouts.
In the RV we tend to put more thought into the gifts that we give the kids – we still try to stick to a budget, but we are also careful about size and weight of the gifts since we live in a small area and have to consider our GVW… and since we have limited the number of gifts that we buy each child to 2 plus stockings, we find we make more of a point to purchase meaningful items – when you are limited on the books that you can carry, you tend to make sure they are good books instead of twaddle. 🙂
When we pulled into our current rv park this past Monday, our 17 y.o. son set up the tree, and then he and our 15 y.o. daughter decorated the slides with garland and colorful ornaments while the littles decorated the tree. The kids had such fun placing the wrapped gifts under the tree! Just like at ‘home’. It’s just that now our ‘home’ is a little smaller. And I think that the compact living quarters have encouraged us to make sure that everything we do this Christmas season is more meaningful. It’s forced us to choose the best out of all the good. As we spend the days leading up to Christmas reflecting on God’s greatest gift to mankind – we also realize that we RVers are in a rather unique situation for giving gifts. We don’t generally know our neighbors, nor will they even be our neighbors for long. What will be our gift to them? I’m not talking of a physical gift as those are all temporary anyway, but rather, a lasting gift… the gift of a smile, of a kind word when you meet in passing to the laundry room or the pool (yes, we are at a park with a pool! yeah! :)), maybe even introducing yourself and letting them know if they need anything that you are right next door. That gift could make or break the spirit of a person who is going through some really trying times that we may not know of.
The gift of kindness can be one of the greatest gifts that we can bless another person with.
And that goes for all of us, not just those of us with a mobile home. 🙂
I hope that your Christmas is a very blessed one filled with family, love, and the constant reminder that the greatest kindness ever shown to us was when God sent His Son to earth. While we celebrate His birth this season, let us be encouraged to show kindness to one another also.
As I’m heading out the door to pick up a few final gifts and groceries, I’m hoping that those around me will choose to extend some small kindness to this out of town driver who is just trying to keep up with her GPS…
A very Merry and Blessed CHRISTmas to each one of you!