Christmas.
We decided this year to have a combination of both English
and Spanish traditions. It’s strange being somewhere else but great to find out
about other peoples traditions – the differences and the similarities. It’s
surprising in a warm country how much snow flakes and icicles form part of the
decorations.
We had intended moving on before Christmas but as time got
on, weather was against us and various other bits the children asked if we
could stay put until after Christmas so the decision was made, decorations were
put up and we settled back to enjoy some ‘tourist time’.
In Spain ,
Christmas Eve is the big family night, everyone gets together and eats a big
meal starting around 10pm (normal evening meal time in Spain ). The normal weekday meal takes
at least 2 hours so I guess this could go on quite late by other countries
standards! On Christmas day other family is visited, adults may exchange
presents and people attend church. For us it was strange not to attend the crib
service or midnight mass this year. We read the Christmas story together and
talked about our nativity procession that had been created through advent and
certainly thought fondly of St Mary’s our mother church.
The 12 days of Christmas are important in Spain , the Christmas period is
considered to end on the 6th January – the feast of the three kings.
On the 5th January most cities and towns hold a parade through the
streets of the Kings giving out sweets to the children, that evening children
will lay out their best shoes stuffed with treats of straw and carrots for the
donkeys or camels and wait for the three Kings to deliver their presents. In
the morning a special king cake decorated with jewel like crystallised fruits
is eaten with hidden surprises inside of a tiny King.
Christmas is often a strange time, a time when you are
either rushing round or wondering why you are not, trying to cram all sorts of
thing in and hoping no-one gets ill. It is also a time when you think of all
the people who you cannot be with as well as enjoying the company of those you
can, I know a lot of people who this year are celebrating with an empty chair
at the table or even in a different house following an unexpected move, for
some this has marked several Christmases’ for others it was a new and probably
painful experience.
In many ways we are used to being ‘away’ for Christmas, the
first year Mark and I were together we were at Haslar hospital, he finished a
night shift, we had lunch together, he proposed to me then I went off to work
to do a late shift! Since then one or other of us have worked several
Christmases’ and had to be quite flexible to fit around shifts. We have always
phoned our families on Christmas day and this year had been looking forward to
skypeing however the internet had other ideas so it was back to the traditional
phone call but at least we were able to speak to them all.
We have been humbled by the kindness and generosity we have
come across over the last year and a half from people we have met and from
those at home. We have received so much support from our families and as we eat
our Christmas cake and enjoy our mince pies, we raise a toast to ‘family and
friends’ and look forward to spending future years celebrating together.
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