Renhold

"But the fact is, Greg, with the knowledge you've been given, you are now on the inside of what I like to call... 'the Byrnes family circle of trust.' I keep nothing from you, you keep nothing from me... and round and round we go."
--Robert DeNiro


It’s definitely true what they say about how there’s no place like home for the holidays. While I will probably always consider that house off Rockford Road in Plymouth, Minnesota to be my home, I have to say that this year it was a special treat to spend the holiday in the home of my ancestors visiting my relatives in Renhold. The All Saints Church where my family has worshiped for at least six generations was decorated beautifully, and although there wasn’t any snow the lights on the trees all over town looked like something from a Hallmark card. Since many of our American Christmas traditions originate in England, it was a lot of fun to actually experience the holiday the way it was meant to be celebrated. No matter how long I live, I will never forget my relatives bringing out the figgy pudding, watching the Queen’s Christmas address, taking communion in the style of my great great great grandfather, and opening gifts with my English relatives—I was given a wonderful present this year: a book called “1000 Places to See Before You Die.” After all the traveling I had done in the last six months I thought I would be able to check off quite a few of them. Not so. I only managed to hit about 10% of the places in the UK, and have not even made it to the one place in my home state that is featured in the book—the Boundary Waters. I suppose the only thing that would have made it a better Christmas would have been getting to see the other three members of the Joyce family “Circle of Trust.” I guess that will just have to wait for next year…