Hi Dreamers!

First off I would like to say I’m sorry. I promised this travel series three months ago when I got back from Florida and I’m just sitting down to do it now. The problem is I kind of have an unspoken blog schedule and Fridays and Saturdays are lifestyle posts. The issue here is that on Fridays and Saturdays I just want to come home and read after my long week. But today I’m sitting down to write this before going back to my book because so many people have asked for more travel blog posts from Florida!

Today I’m going to tell you what it was like meeting all my future in-laws at once and how a very British Christmas in Florida went.

A little back story, Josie’s mom moved to the US from Scotland with her parent’s (Josie’s Grandparents). They’re now Floridians and Josie grew up in Florida. I grew up in Massachusetts so our entire six-year relationship up until this point has been long distance with Josie normally visiting me. Even in college when I visited her she was in school here in Wisconsin so I had never met her family except on phone calls!

It was really daunting to meet her whole family at once and have a Christmas away from mine with all new traditions. So the first two days of our trip were nerve wracking and they went something like this:

We got off the plane in Florida on Christmas Eve with our winter Wisconsin jackets in our hands. This was only my second time flying and I was already pretty overwhelmed and following Josie who has traveled a lot more then I have. I’m looking for baggage claim signs when Josie gets this huge grin on her face and walks in the opposite direction– towards my future parents-in-law.

(deep breath) I promise you I was a mess.

I was promptly pulled into hugs and welcomed into the 80 degree weather (I welcomed it back… I miss the 80 degrees). As we got to the car we were told the game plan… we were going directly to Josie’s grandparent’s house. Cue nerves again because I’ve heard quite a few stories about Josie’s very British grandmother– all of them absolutely hilarious. I wanted her to like me so bad.

On Christmas Eve I met Josie’s Parents, her Grandparents, her middle sister (I met her other sister when she came to visit in November), her two cousins, and her aunt and uncle. I was promptly told to get out because I’m a Pats fan… and then given lots of hugs!

On Christmas Day I got to experience Josie’s family traditions. This included Yorkshire pudding, trifle, paper crowns in Christmas crackers, Moscow Mules with homemade syrup, and lots and lots of laughter. It wasn’t my New England white Christmas, but it was just as warm and inviting with my new Florida family. I can’t wait to go back!

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Check out Josie’s Blog here: http://Josiepozies.wordpress.com