Christmas in Spain

I’ve been in Spain with my family for the last five days now. I have a bad cold at the moment so rather than playing with my nephew and nieces as I usually do, I’m actually trying not to get too physically close to avoid passing too many germs on. Not that they care when it’s the other way around, they’re always happy to cough or sneeze on me!

Last night all my nieces stayed over at my parents’, where I am also staying. First we had to get them all arranged on the different beds. Then one of them decided at the last minute that she didn’t actually want to stay any longer and wanted mummy to pick her up, but mummy had gone out to dinner and I had to explain and dry some tears. Then this morning I was woken up by my youngest niece at 5.30. She’d wet the bed so she needed changing. Then the 8 year-old and her sister decided to have a fight. I love being an uncle and can’t wait to be a dad. And I actually say this with only the slightest hint of sarcasm: I do love it and I can’t wait.

We’re getting ready for dinner tonight. Here in Spain the big celebration tends to be dinner on Christmas eve. We’ll exchange gifts among the adults and then leave the presents for the kids to find tomorrow morning. We used to do presents on January 6th, which is when most Spanish kids get their presents (traditionally it’s the three wise men who bring presents, not Father Christmas) but since the kids are back at school on January 8th or 9th, there wasn’t a lot of time to play with the new toys. Many families in Spain now do this. In fact many Spanish kids get presents both on Christmas day and epiphany!

As usual, Glen has stayed back in the UK to spend Christmas with his family. This time last year I wrote (rather naively) about the possibility of it being our last Christmas without kids. This year there’s a bigger chance should we get approved in February, but of course it may not happen or we may still be waiting for a match, which is the most likely scenario. Still, without getting my hopes up too much, it’s “fun” to imagine what Christmas would be like. We may not be able to leave the country with the kids for starters, so who knows if we’d manage to get together somehow. Then there’s the issue of getting the kids together and how they’d get on (or in what language they’d communicate for that matter). And having to clarify that there are no crackers, silly hats, even sillier jokes, turkey, or mince pies in Spain, but you get to eat turrón and seafood…

The Christmas tree just toppled over. Tinsel and decorations everywhere. Must go. Have a happy Christmas everyone.