What Matters Most Around Christmas

If you follow my blog, you will know that I was born in Peru and that my family and friends are based there. Since I left Peru, I have always tried to go back to visit at least once a year and of course, I also try to coincide this with Christmas. I did this for a few years until I was married and started a family. My trips change now depending on cost and school holidays. It is a long flight and the prices are not cheap in December.

When my eldest daughter turned two, she needed to have a full price seat which made things more expensive. Once we had our second daughter the idea of being able to travel over there has become more of a dream than a reality. At least around Christmas.

Christmas with Bella

My youngest is more than two years old now too so she also needs a full price seat to travel to Peru. This has become an issue for us as we have not been able to spend Christmas with my family for a long time. Nick is British so we usually celebrate it with his family. It’s usually a small gathering (he has one brother, who also has own family like us) but of course, its a lovely time that my girls look forward to every year.

First Christmas with Nick in The UK (we were not married yet)

I’m grateful to have his family here and to be able to celebrate it with them but I wish I can go to Peru more often to celebrate it with my family too. I would like this for my girls so they can feel close to my family too. With the technology available today, we can Skype, Facetime or use WhatsApp and wish Merry Christmas to my family that way, but of course it’s not the same.

Christmas in Peru in 2008 (No Kids yet)

To give you an idea how different it is, in Peru we spend Christmas in the Summer. So you are wearing summer dresses and have a nice tan already as the weather start changing from November onwards. This makes the whole experience for my girls really interesting. They would look forward to waking up on Christmas Day and going to the swimming pool. We actually celebrate Christmas in the evening on the 24th (Christmas Eve). This is our main dinner and when all the big celebrations happen. The next day we normally eat the leftovers. We also open the presents on the night of the 24th although we wait until midnight for that.

Christmas 2015

For me, the most important thing about Christmas is to be able to be with your family spending some quality time eating, drinking and celebrating another year together. It is a time of happiness which we can all share and enjoy.

For this reason, I think the latest campaign from Holiday Inn Express about “What Matters Most” was a dream come true for three lucky families. So, what was this campaign about? At Christmas, Holiday Inn Express know that guests stay at their hotels whilst visiting family. However, for those people with loved ones living abroad like me for example, that’s not always possible.

That’s why this Christmas, they surprised three families with visits from their loved ones who they didn’t think they would be seeing this Christmas. Holiday Inn Express organised a competition via social media to find out which of their followers would be separated from their families this Christmas and from this they identified their three winners and worked with their families abroad to surprise them. They reunited the families at the Holiday Inn Express Ealing in late November and captured that moment so that they were reunited on film to create a moving video and imagery. How lovely is this idea?

I honestly wished that I was one of those three lucky families. It would have been an amazing opportunity to be reunited with my family. I’m sure they will never forget this moment because spending time together as a family is ‘What Matters Most’! This is the most important thing for me around Christmas.

You can see the lovely video that was produced showing the day that the three families were reunited with their love ones. I’m warning you that you will need a tissue when watching, LOL! Anyway, please see below:

What do you think of this campaign? What matters the most to you around Christmas? How do you celebrate your Christmas? Do you also have family abroad? Would you love a surprise like this too? Please leave a comment below as I would love to read what you think.

*Disclosure: This is a collaborative post

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca 💋