Photoblog: Venice Christmas 2009

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This was my husband and I our 5th Christmas away from home. I've been hurting for my family a lot lately, expecting this Christmas to be my very loneliest yet. My parents are getting noticeably older, my nieces and grandniece and grand nephew are growing at a pace I can’t keep up with and family pets are departing this earth at an alarming rate. Life is moving so fast and I wanted, more than anything, to slow it down for a minute, distort space and time and spend the day with all my family on the other side of the globe.

Alas, it was not to be. Too little time off work and too much money on airfares dictated my husband and I would be each other’s only company with our baby rescue pup, Banjo. It would be his very first Christmas with any family at all. Alone it would be the three of us I thought. It appears however that we are not the only ones too far from home or unable to afford airfares…

Our Christmas was saved by the love of good friends and sharing with strangers. Even our friends’ puppy, Frankie who had to spend Christmas without her family, got to enjoy an orphans’ Christmas with us. Thank God for this little village we call Venice, and thank God for friends. If you open your door, you really never need be alone.