Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Christmas Eve / Nochebuena 2006


The family around the Christmas table.

Another view of the family around the Christmas table.

Juan and Oli looking great!

Juan, Sarita, the Abuela and Olivia looking cool!

José Antonio and his Mother, Ernestina - "la abuela" - they look like something from the Adam's family!

Hi everyone.

How is your Christmas going?

Ours is great as we love Christmas in this house. This is the first Christmas spent in our lovely new home. And Christmas Eve this year was very special not only because of that but because we had Eladio’s Mother with us. For Eladio it must have been the first time in more than 20 years. We also had the pleasure of the company of Eladio’s beloved brother and family who live in Madrid, José Antonio, his wife Dolores and their kids, Miguel (now living in London and working for Citibank), Sarita (guapa) – now living in China and Juan (studying and working for the TV channel, Cuatro).

So it was a real family reunion over the Christmas Dinner. Christmas Eve or Nochebuena in Spain is as important as Christmas Day is in the UK. And in our house we actually celebrate them both. We were 11 for dinner and the table was full of good food, crackers and candles. We had made far too much but that’s not a problem as today is Boxing Day (yes we celebrate that too in this house) and the girls’ boyfriends are here for lunch and it will all get eaten.

After the sumptuous dinner, we had champagne and chocolates in the dining room and then started trying on the wigs I had bought in the Plaza Mayor and those Eladio and I got at the Phone House party. It was such fun and we spent a good hour laughing ourselves silly but the hysterics came when Eladio’s Mother tried the wigs on herself. Just have a look at the photos and you will laugh too.

When everyone went and we made our way to bed, I had the final task of taking the girls’ stocking presents out from hiding to put in the Christmas stockings my dear Mother had made for them many years ago when they were very small. Today they are 21 and 22 but tradition dictates that they still get a stocking while they live in this house.

Happy Christmas my dear friends.

All the very best
Masha

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