It’s that time of year, when I realise that I still have some of last year’s written but not sent Christmas cards in a box somewhere, this year’s unwritten ones in a box in my bag, no stamps, no time, posting deadlines past, the Christmas tree is up but not quite finished, the food shopping almost done, the presents almost done, but no time, no time.

My own fault of course. I have known Christmas was coming for the last year. And even though the date never varies, and there are reminders enough from Guy Fawkes Day onwards, I somehow always think that there is plenty of time. There isn’t. Procrastination has stolen it!

But here I am, dear friends, about to tell you how busy I’ve been, and hope you will understand. If anyone thinks retirement is about slowing down and gardening, then it hasn’t been quite like that for me. You can skip to the end now if you like, if you just want my Christmas greetings. Most of the following is about my travels, so if you follow me on Instagram, you will know most of it already. But feel free to dip in and out.

Last October my youngest daughter announced our forthcoming grandchild. Oh, the excitement. I remember I absolutely loved being pregnant and hoped it would be the same for her. She was very excited and determined to fit as much in as she could before she gave birth in July. One of the first things she did was to take me to Barcelona for a couple of days in January. We had a marvellous time, walking around the city, revisiting some of my old haunts and many new places.

My big regret was not getting in touch with my old teacher and friend Sheena Royle. https://barbarakorzeniowska.com/2025/04/24/barcelona-farewell-to-sheena-royle/

A couple of weeks later Jacek and I went for a few days to Salzburg. He wanted to go somewhere cold, and his wish was answered. The first time we went was in February 1993, when I was pregnant with Marysia. We had gone with our older two children and my mother – our first ever holiday together. Austria was not yet in the European Union, and in many ways had not quite reached the twentieth century, I seem to remember, but we had an interesting time, even doing the Sound of Music Tour ( which was much better than anticipated ) and visiting all the Mozart related places. The bit that I remember best from that time was us all going to the museum of childhood. Mother, husband, two children. I was standing in a small gallery, enjoying looking at the sorts of toys I had had in my childhood, when all of a sudden I felt I should have been an octopus; arms being pulled from all sides. Mother, husband and two children had wandered off. But suddenly the invisible elastic had pinged them all back to me: Basia, come and look at this, Mama come this way, now, now. With me, with me. They’d all seen something they needed to show me there and then. No-one could or would wait. Somehow we saw it all. 32 years later I had no need to go back to any of these places – there was only one thing I needed to do and that was to go back to St Peter’s Cemetery, to see if it was as beautiful as I remembered. And it was. Tiny, set in a sort of courtyard, very uneven little hills, all the graves are marked with beautiful wrought iron crosses, all different, all incredibly well preserved and looked after. This time I went alone and spent a couple of hours there, just contemplating life and death and beauty.

Then in February was my husband’s birthday. We went to Lisbon and our daughter joined us for a few days. What a fascinating city it is. Sadly now two of its most interesting attractions are now out of action, the lift and the tram, as they had some terrible accidents. We stayed in a fabulous hotel, which had been a printer’s workshop, in the old part of town. Lisbon is wonderful for just wandering, so wandering is what we did. And eating. This time we did not explore many museums or galleries. The weather was nice so we could stay outside and just enjoy being.

But as this is a Christmas letter I thought I would show you something Christmassy from Lisbon.

Then April in Athens. That was quite an experience, but not in a touristy way. You can read about it here if you have not already done so. https://barbarakorzeniowska.com/2025/04/19/an-alternative-athens-alphabet/

In May was our 46th wedding anniversary. We spent it in Cookham, just for a change.

Then we went to Venice https://barbarakorzeniowska.com/2025/06/16/venice-a-real-life-painting/

https://barbarakorzeniowska.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=6905&action=edit

Murano. Or out of my comfort zone. Seriously.

June was Sheffield. I went for a nostalgic weekend with my eldest daughter. She indulged me kindly as we went to all my old haunts.

I lived here in 1975-6. it was a very run down old house. made into 7 luxury flats now!

Some of them were unrecognisable, which is only to be expected I suppose after fifty years. But we had a lovely time. Sheffield has always been a beautiful city, with some wonderful victorian architecture. it also has some of the msot awful brutalist buidings too, but we didnt visit those this time round.

Nostalgia. Sheffield. 24 hours of pure joy.

At the end of June we were invited to a family friend’s 90th birthday. Of course we had to go. The solenizantka – Isn’t that a much more elegant sounding word than birthday girl? was my mother in law’s closest friend – and their mothers were friends from their schooldays. So there was no question about not going to Warsaw for a few days. Such a lovely city in the summer.

One of the unloveliest buildings in Warsaw. I include it because it has a style of its own.

But – and this was a big but – our daughter was just about to have her baby. In London! Oh dear. We went anyway and came back in the nick of time. On the 2nd of July the most perfect little boy was born. Luka Jan. Since that day I have been the most besotted and crazy grandma ever. Absolutely every spare moment is devoted to being with him, thinking about him and dreaming about him and his glorious cheeky little face, bright blue eyes and amazingly long dark hair. It’s hard to believe that he is almost six months old now. He seems to change from day to day, and now that he has produced two little teeth, it is even more pronounced. Life has taken on new meaning,

Not that that stopped us from going to Menaggio in August. We’ve been going almost every year since 1998. And it is still for me the closest to Paradise on earth. The combination of lake, unspoilt landscape, mountains, woodland, including both palms and pines, curated gardens surrounding ornate victorian villas – for me the perfect mix of nature and civilisation.

So we went for a few days. Unfortunately the area has become very popular with other people too, so we had to find new places to say. Some more successful than others. In Menaggio itself we stayed in the hotel Corona Garni, with beautifully hand painted ceilings and lovely staff. In Lenno we stayed in what should have been a very stylish hotel, but it was falling apart and not very pelasant. Signs in the lift that were very unpleasant, for example, and just a general reluctance to be helpful. some wonderful artefacts though.

We came back to find baby grown and changed even more.

In September we all went to Bolton for my son in law’s significant birthday. and when I say all, I mean all. London family including new baby. Bagshot family. Wales family including new baby. (Three weeks younger than ours. We like to keep in sync more or less.) Liverpool family and loads of friends. A great night out.

Above my sons in law and the mother of the one on the left.

Three quarters of the year over, and we don’t seem to have finished travelling. In October we went to Jersey for the most amazing weekend with Jacek’s Catenian Circle. Jersey is beautiful and has a fascinating history, but what was special about this weekend was the people who organised the weekend, the trips, the outings etc. I have never felt so beautifully looked after and entertained by a variety of people whom I had never met before. I learnt a lot about Jersey history and its fascinating language.

I thought that was it for the year. but oh no. Our daughter, mother of the new babe, decided it would be fun for us to go to Malaga for a week at the beginning of November. The weather would be nice for us all, I might get to practise my Spanish, the food would be good, and the baby would be looked after by grandparents and Uncle Anj, who turned out to be a star, whisking baby away for long walks at the first sign of restlessness. We had a wonderful week as you can see here.

https://barbarakorzeniowska.com/2025/12/04/malaga/

Straightaway on our return I had the enormous privilege of marching in the Remembrance Sunday Cenotaph Parade. This was the second time I was proud to wear my father’s medals – or some of them at any rate (my chest isnt large enough!) it is a greatly moving and humbling occasion – ten thousand people, meany fothem actual veterans – not so many now from WW2 but from more recent conflicts. I was amazed at the turnout from the public who stand for hours watching the various groups go past. I was part of the Polish Contingent – hence the white and red armbands. Some of the best moments were when total strangers would call out something in Polish.

Then a week later up to Cardiff again for my goddaughter’s son’s Christening. That was a lovely afternoon – I couldn’t believe how full the church was, despite many people not being able to attend because of the weather.

In the photo below, from left to right, are my goddaughter, me, my friend Cathy who is godmother to my goddaughter’s sister who is standing on the right.

But then December came and I needed to go to Poland to arrange my Polish Citizenship, and that of my children and grandson. so off we went to Warsaw and then to Gdansk , this time purely as tourists.

Oh what a beautiful city, very nicely restored after the horrors of the second world war. We thought we would go to the Christmas market, widely advertised as the best in Europe. I confidently left loads of room in my suitcase thinking g I would buy all my Christmas presents and some beautiful handmade artifacts. Did I, heck? Nothing, Niente, Nada. Nic.

Never mind, museums are plentiful and better for the intellect.

The one problem is their opening times. All wrong. for the three days we were there we were constantly out of sync. And the one we did manage, the Amber museum, was totally claustrophobic. So we quickly slithered out ( marble flooring)! We did mange to eat in some fabulous resturants, including Goldwasser, where I had a small shot of their epony,ous drink. nicer than I thought it would be. Very pretty with the little tasteless gold flakes. Cheers.

Goldwasser Restaurant

We came back 10 days ago, and that’s it for a while. If you’ve managed to read through some of this travelogue, thank you. If you haven’t yet, you can always go back to it when you have a particularly sleepless night.part from travelling I’ve helped organise some major events including a big dinner in the Polish Hearth – Ognisko Polskie, to celebrate the founding of the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum and the Polish Underground Movement Study Trust, where I volunteer in the library, and also a wonderful carol concert promoted by the Polish Knights of Malta UK in the RAF Church of St Clement Danes in the Strand. Both these events were very time consuming – in between trying to be with baby Luka, my number one occupation. But both were well worth the effort and I believed were very much enjoyed by all who came.

I just wanted to explain a bit why I am so behind with everything. Will next year be any different? Who knows? I’m excited because our cottage is almost ready for us to move in totally – so that will be a new phase in our life.

This year has been amazing in every way and I am very grateful.

In the meantime, I wish you and your family a very happy and peaceful Christmas with all the ensuing celebrations, family time, travel time and, most importantly time for yourself to indulge the things you want to do.

Much love

Basia and family.