For about twenty five years I spent Christmas at home surrounded by my immediate family, revelling in the Christmas traditions we had created together. From new pyjamas on Christmas Eve to opening our stockings on the bed on Christmas morning before scrambling downstairs to open the main presents and much, much more!
Fabulous moments captured in our family history but as most midlifers know children grow up and suddenly you are no longer the centre of their universe. They move away in the pursuit of careers, meet that special someone who also has a family and before you know it you are left at home, just you and hubby, wondering where all that time went.
Having spent the last three Christmas Days on our own hubby and I decided this year to try something different and booked a trip away. We deliberated for some time over where to go but realised fairly quickly that going somewhere hot wasn’t really for us and even flying off to somewhere cold was a little beyond our Christmas comfort zone so as a first step we booked a lovely bungalow in Wales for a week.
We had no idea how we were going to feel and even booked a place big enough that should the children have time they could come and join us at any point. Never say never! There was still that small part of me, deep down that was living in hope that we might once again be able to revisit times of yore!
We really wanted to ensure that, as far as possible, everything went well so it was like a military operation!
Armed with a menu plan for the week, most of our food including our turkey for Christmas Day and kitchen utensils (in case they didn’t provide what we needed), we loaded up our truck.
In went one of our Christmas trees along with decorations (to ensure the interior met my expectations) and, not forgetting of course the stockings and presents, we locked up our house on Saturday morning and set off.
All excited we headed across the English countryside avoiding the boring, grey motorways in favour of lush green fields, country homes and small villages and hamlets. We made an unplanned stop for some lunch at the Ludlow Farm Shop and Kitchen: https://ludlowfarmshop.co.uk partaking of some home made soup with on site baked, crusty, wholemeal bread and hot drinks. It’s definitely worth a stop if you are passing.
We also took a wander around their gift shop and farm shop and utilised their toilet facilities before rejoining our route.
We arrived at our bungalow early afternoon and were both immediately struck by the wonderful landscape in front of us. Rolling hills in the distance, a nest of pheasants in the field across the lane and several grey squirrels running around the garden collecting food for their winter hibernation.
Eager to see inside we popped the key in the door and went to explore. I love that moment when with the luggage still in the truck you get your first glimpse of your temporary home.
I’m always eager to see behind every door and inwardly keep my fingers crossed that the reality matches the photos we have already seen.
Wow! it was amazing. Everything was immaculately clean with two bedrooms, both with fitted wardrobes and tv’s off the hallway. There was also a spectacular bathroom, with a double shower and the longest bath I’ve ever seen, before we entered the open plan living/dining room/kitchen space.
There was a beautiful, sophisticated Christmas tree sparkling away in the window along with a large woodburner just begging to be lit with a good supply of logs.
On the kitchen island Ruth, the owner, had left us a Christmas card welcoming us to our home for the week alongside the best array of food we have ever been given.
Christmas cupcakes with snowmen and penguins on!
A massive fruit bowl with oranges, apples, melon, bananas and two types of grapes.
A box of chocolates alongside crackers for our Christmas Day table.
Two bottles of quality apple and orange juice, milk and butter in the fridge.
Croissants, a newly baked white cob style loaf, Welsh strawberry preserve and orange marmalade, fresh coffee and cranberry sauce.
And last but not least chilled Prosecco and a bottle of Shiraz wine
Beyond the kitchen was a utility area with another lovely bathroom with a rainfall shower and our bedroom. It was so spacious, again with fitted wardrobes and a TV but best of all a large, picture, bay window looking over the front landscape and large enough for our Christmas tree to stand in.
I was so excited unpacking and putting up our tree in the bedroom window so we could settle in.
Our bedroom Christmas tree, it looked much better lit up at night!
As we discovered when it was time to make dinner, everything you could wish for was there and so all the kitchen equipment we had brought with us remained in the truck. It was wonderful to be able to chop vegetables with sharp knives, to pop the dishwasher on after dinner and not have to worry there wouldn’t be enough dishwasher tablets because there was a whole packet!
I did struggle, initialling, with the bath! I filled it up with hot water and bubbles, stepped in, led back and nearly disappeared under the water. Being quite short my toes couldn’t touch the end of the bath! Hubby solved the problem with the sticky mat provided and so several hours were whiled away that week reading and soaking luxuriously. I think next time I’m going to treat myself to some really expensive bubble bath!
With three large sofas in the living area we had a chose of where to sit every day and when the fire was lit it was still super cosy!
The pheasants and squirrels were regular visitors and whilst we did venture out one day to the local town of Welshpool we didn’t feel under any pressure to go out and explore anymore.
I took these photos whilst in Welshpool visiting a local shop all decked out with Christmas bits and pieces to buy!
Christmas Eve Afternoon was spent as usual in front of a Christmas movie with the fire lit and the big tree in the living area shedding it’s light on the room.
Christmas isn’t Christmas without a movie! And Love Actually is one of our favourites!
On Christmas Day we woke up and opened our stockings on the bed. We bypassed our normal breakfast choosing instead to be a little more indulgent with smoked salmon and scrambled egg in a bagel.
Then it was onto the main event -presents!! Our Santa sacks came out from under the main tree and we spent time savouring all the gifts we had been bought.
We made the effort to peel off our Christmas pyjamas, shower and dress so Christmas dinner, once cooked, could be served at the table which was lovingly dressed with linen that we had brought with us for the occasion.
A traditional Christmas lunch in the UK!
We had an amazing week just chilling out. For the first time ever I really did manage to “stop the world and get off”! I had no guilt about just reading book after book, catching up on magazines and switching off from the outside world.
(See my previous post –https://amidlifeadventure.org/2025/10/13/__trashed/ )
I even managed to achieve another first of spending a whole day without a clock. I got up when I woke up, ate when I was hungry and slept when I was tired. It was quite an experience.
Imagine! this is how our ancestors lived before the electric light bulb and a vast cornucopia of food was available at any time every day.
I wrote about having this ambition in this post: https://amidlifeadventure.org/2025/11/03/embracing-freedom-at-midlife/. and it is definitely something I’m going to try and repeat in the future.
It was lovely to go to bed at night and lie there with the lights off and just the twinkling of the Christmas tree casting it’s own shadows around the room. Revelling in the knowledge and contentment that we had finally achieved a new child-free style of Christmas.
Bliss!
What did you do this Christmas? Have you found new ways to celebrate now your children are all grown up and have left home? I’d love to hear from you x
A Midlife Adventure 