Christmas in Spain

This was my first Christmas in Spain, as well as the first spent outside the United States. I have to admit that as much as I complained last year about the overcrowded stores and commercialism, I actually missed some of that this year. That's not to say I didn't enjoy Christmas in Spain, because I did, very much so, in fact. It's just that it was "different," and I longed for the hustle and bustle of the Christmas shoppers in the malls, the beautiful decorations in the stores, the Christmas songs on the radio... You get the picture.

But rather than focus on what I missed, I'm going to focus on what I experienced during the Christmas holiday season, and invite you to join me as I reminisce about Christmas 2008...

Early December found the Women of the Chapel celebrating the Christmas season by hosting "Tables for Ten," where tables of ten women sat together for dinner. Each table had a different theme, and therefore different types of food. The theme at our table was "Twas the Night Before Christmas Pajama Party" and we all wore our jammies and enjoyed comfort food... a breakfast casserole, hashbrown potato casserole, muffins, cinnamon rolls, etc. After we ate, we sang Christmas carols. It was a very enjoyable evening of Christian fellowship with some wonderful women.


Of course mid-December found us enjoying a long weekend in Paris, our first major trip since moving to Europe four months ago. It was great being there during the holiday season, seeing the decorations and even a few (and only a few) snowflakes. We had a blast!


My sweet, handsome husband and I were attending a Christmas party in San Fernando hosted by the Spanish admiral in this photo. I'm always happy to be on my favorite guy's arm, even if it means having to dress up when I'm not in the mood. We enjoyed several parties throughout the holiday season.


This photo was taken at the same event. The ladies in our party were sharing a goofy moment, posing with a throne, as if we're royalty.


The men wouldn't be outdone, as they decided to pose for a photo in the same spot. The woman sitting on the throne is our Navy Skipper's wife. The Navy Skipper is sitting to her left (your right).


The Air Force Christmas party was held at a very nice hotel on the beach in Rota, Playa de la Luz. Here my hubby poses with the local Spanish gentlemen who happen to be the owners/operators of the local moving company and are just about the nicest people ever.


I can't remember the last time I'd sat on Santa's lap!

We went to a couple of Christmas parties at the homes of friends, but didn't take any photos there. The boys also enjoyed their individual classroom holiday parties at school.

We attended a nice Christmas Eve worship service at the base chapel. We sang lots of Christmas carols, there were skits and scripture readings and a reflection on what Christmas means. It was really very meaningful and I'm thankful we were a part of it.

Even though our base house is much smaller than our previous house in Virginia, we still had room for our big Christmas tree, and I'm glad we brought it with us as decent live trees are virtually impossible to find in Spain. The many gifts shown under our tree are proof that we were blessed with generous family, friends and of course Santa.


Christmas morning brought great surprises and tons of fun for our boys (us too). They received these whoopie cushions from relatives and they were definitely a hit. More about those in a future post.


I was a very good girl this year, and if you doubt that, just look at all the loot Santa put in my stocking. See? Told ya so!


Santa brought each of the boys a watch...
... as well as a Nintendo DS. Santa totally rocks!


Mom and Dad mostly gave the boys boring clothes (You KNOW how parents are!), however, a Steelers shirt was actually a pretty cool gift.


This guy wouldn't have been happy with a Steelers shirt, however a Colts shirt works for him. Thank goodness the NEX has a somewhat decent team sport selection!


My sweetie is sporting his new shirt and shows off an indoor/outdoor thermometer he received.

I'd show you a photo of me, but I wouldn't want you to be jealous of my great beauty upon rolling out of bed on Christmas morning. Sorry, but it's my blog and that means I can include and/or omit whatever photos I choose. It's called "blogger's prerogative."

The rest of Christmas Day was spent enjoying a delicious dinner of chicken we received as a gift from Spanish friends, as well as a host of favorite side dishes. We relaxed and took inventory of our many gifts, talked to family at home in the States and later joined friends at the home of neighbors for dessert, drinks and conversation around the fire pit, a very common occurrence in our neighborhood.

We went on a couple of walking excursions in local towns and saw lots of these beautiful banners. Translation = "God Is Born... Merry Christmas!"


Nativity scenes are plentiful in our area. We saw large ones like this... ... and small ones like this... There's a fantastic live nativity held in Arcos de la Frontera every year, however, it's a one-night event only, and wouldn't you know we had plans on that night. Maybe we can go next Christmas.


We saw a few beautifully decorated storefronts.


We saw streets bright with color both day... ... and night...


We braved a huge crowd of people in downtown Rota for the annual Three Kings Parade on the night before Epiphany, which is the big day of celebration for the Spanish.


Here one of the Three Kings is featured on a parade float, throwing candy to the children along the streets. Notice the hands in the lower half of the photo, reaching to catch candy as it's thrown. I'll show you more photos of the parade in a separate post. It was truly a pleasure to see and experience this cultural holiday event.

That pretty much wraps up our Christmas holiday season. We felt both privileged and blessed to have participated in such a wide array of events. Hope your Christmas holiday season was bright, merry and blessed too.