Madrid, Sunday 29th December 2024.
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| The four of us on Christmas Day in peace and harmony |
Good morning folks, this last week of the year.
I hope you have all had a good Christmas, those of you who celebrate it that is. We certainly do. It's a big thing in my family where most of the traditions have their roots in my childhood when Christmases were spent with my paternal grandparents and dear Aunty Gloria and family (RIP) in Ickenham, just outside London. Christmas brings out the child in us I always think. I must have been a very observant child taking in all the elements of an English Christmas all those years ago to later instill them in my own family here in Spain. Of course, I have also incorporated many Spanish traditions which makes for double celebrations. In this country apart from Father Christmas who comes on Christmas Eve, we also have the 3 Kings; "los Reyes Magos" who come on 6th January putting an end to the fesitive season in Spain. My dear friend Julio rang me on the 24th and I told him all about our preparations including having bought my own presents. He laughed and said of course I bought my own presents as I was the ultimate "Reina Maga" (Christmas Queen). He reminded me of all the times I had handed out corporate gifts left right and centre and included him and we laughed as we always do. We would laugh in person when he came on Friday for our annual dinner together. He loves our decorations and always says Christmas only starts for him when he comes to our house. Bless him.
By last Sunday I had everything more or less ready so could feel in peace. That day the Spanish lottery, El Gordo, was drawn and once again we didn't win a cent. We never do but always buy the "décimos". I was happy some of the winnings went to areas of Valencia devastated by the the Dana in late October.
I was in peace but poor Suzy wasn't. She had a crisis; her first since coming back to live with us at the beginning of October. She is off her meds, is not having therapy and I know for sure she has not quit smoking dope. We do our best not to finance her addiction and to do that you have to be cruel to be kind. That brought us problems at the beginning of the week which also endangered a peaceful and harmonious Christmas.
Thus on Monday I was also out of sorts. As someone once said to me "you can only ever be as happy as your unhappiest child". So true. While she suffers, we suffer. But life goes on and you have to go through the motions. So we went on our walk and had coffee at La Flaca. There we discussed our future; i.e. where are we going to live when we are older. We are already old so must prepare for our future. Will we stay here, will we sell the house and move to the sea or to nearby Boadilla? We don't know yet but we talk about it a lot. But just the thought of dismantling our huge sprawling house with belongings from a whole life time and more, is very daunting.
I think I didn't sleep more than 3 or 4 hours that night and woke up on Tuesday 24th feeling like something the cat brought in. It was Suzy who cheered me up as she had got over her crisis and was looking forward to celebrating Christmas with all the family. Without her, Christmas would have been sad and incomplete. Last year she spent it on her own in Santa Pola which broke my heart. Her wanting to spend it with us this year was my best Christmas present. She sank into my arms and all was good.
I did lots of the food preparation in the morning with Tana's help. Here are two of my creations; first the potato salad which is always the pièce de résistance of any festive meal in our house. And then the "pudding" - Raspberry and cream mille feuille. Wonderful eh?
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| We always have potato salad at Christmas. It is from my Russian grandfather's Swiss recipe book. My only variation is to add prawns. |
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| Strawberry and raspberry mille-feuille for dessert |
I managed to sleep a siesta for about 2 hours which recharged my batteries completely. Thus I was ready to put the final touches to our Christmas Eve dinner - the all important "Nochebuena" where Spaniards gather around the table for the most important family meal of the year. Unlike in the UK, the Christmas Eve dinner is more important than the Christmas Day lunch. We get to have both being an Anglo Spanish family:-)
Suzy helped me and Olivia arrived around 6 to lend a helping hand too until the children arrived bringing their usual chaos and fun. Our menu is always our favourite "bits and bobs" type food which, apart from the potato salad, also includes "perushki" (little Russian meat pies"), croquettes for the kids, asparagus, Ibérico ham and sundry. The dessert is sometimes trifle but as Oli is not keen I made the tart. All this which for Spaniards would just be a first course, is followed by a tray of sweets and chocolates including the famous "turrón"; a sort of hard nougat made with almonds and sugar. This is what the table looked like.
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| Our Christmas Eve dinner |
We had photos taken before dinner but owing the lighting in the lounges they came out a bit blurry. We had all put on our finest clothes as is the custom for Christmas Even dinner in Spain. Suzy was wearing my elegant but now far too small, dark green velvet trouser suit in which she looked smashing. She even put on high heels. We all then put on green Santa hats and even danced. What lovely moments.
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| Highlights from Christmas Eve |
True to its name Nochebuena meaning a good night, a good night was had by all. We were in bed by 11 o'clock and that night I slept so much better.
Of course I was the first up on Wednesday, Christmas Day. I had my coffee and then laid the table for a special breakfast for Eladio, Suzy and I. Eladio had his usual, I had a crumpet and piece of toast and Suzy had toast too with Bonne Maman jam which she adores.
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| Christmas morning breakfast |
Meanwhile at Oli's house down the road, Juliet and Elliot were ecstatically opening their presents. We had warned Elliot (5) that if he didn't behave he may not get any presents to which he replied "I always get presents". Eladio had told him of the time when he and his brother José Antonio only received a lump of coal. It came in an embroidered bag with the words "for two rebellious boys". Elliot has heard the story before and always listens attentively but he firmly believes it will never happen to him. Of course it won't. That day both he and his sister would be getting presents not just at their house but also at our place and at their other grandmother's house.
Before they came we brought up the presents hidden in one of the rooms downstairs and placed them under the tree.
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| Presents under the tree on Christmas morning |
Before opening them, I insisted on taking the annual family photos. Miguel is the chief photographer, he being a professional. I have chosen the one of the 4 of us as this week's feature photo as it's not often we have the opportunity of a photo together. And here are more of this year's official photos which I am delighted to share with you too.
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| Some of this year's official Christmas morning photos |
Christmas tree present opening is a ceremony at our house with the opening of each present being watched by everyone so each present is savoured. This is how it happened at my grandparents' house and I wouldn't have it any other way. Suzy was the MC, handing out the presents with carols in the background. I had a hard job of instilling this tradition in my small grandchildren aged 3 and 5 who wanted to open all the presents at once regardless if they were for them or someone else. I felt a bit like Scrooge trying to discipline them. But I think I was right. I just wasn't having them opening other people's presents as well as their own hahahaha. Here are some photos of them enjoying what they got.
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| The children enjoying their presents |
Father Christmas had made some excellent choices. Eladio and I got perfumes (from each other and chosen by me, hahaha - Esencia by Loewe and Orange Blossom by Joe Malone), socks and a jumper. From Oli and Miguel we got a milk frother and more perfume (Hugo Boss) for Eladio but also a voucher for dinner or lunch at a fish restaurant they recommend in Pozuelo called
Barco Aparicio. Thank you darling.
Soon I had to get on with the lunch, always a traditional English one, except that we have chicken instead of turkey which I am not too keen on. Oli was staying with us as she said she wouldn't miss it for the world and Juliet stayed too. Miguel went with Elliot to his mother's house where Oli and Juliet would join them later.
This was our Christmas lunch table -photo courtesy of Olivia.
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| Our traditional English Christmas day lunch |
The trimmings included sprouts, peas, sage and onion stuffing, roast potatoes, gravy and cranberry sauce. It did not include pigs in blankets which is not a tradition I was brought up on. I was delighted to see Suzy partake of the chicken which means she is less fanatical about being vegetarian. We didn't have pig in blankets but we all ate like pigs. Then of course there was the Christmas pudding flambeed with rum as we didn't have any brandy and smothered in sweet white sauce with more rum. It's not my favourite pudding but I do like to have it on Christmas Day. I then treated my family to a small glass of Cream of Limoncello which I had bought somewhere in Italy during our road trip. It was and is delicious. Here is Suzy savouring it with her hat from the crackers, another integral part of meals at Christmas in England and which I had to import from Germany of all places.
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| Suzy on Christmas Day enjoying a glass of Limoncello after our copious lunch |
I was so full after lunch I felt bloated. Oh why do we all indulge so much these festive days? If we had been in England, no doubt we would have watched the King's speech at 3pm on Christmas Day, another tradition I was brought up on, except that it was The Queen, King Charles' mother. In Spain the King's speech is at 9pm on Christmas Eve and is usually very boring and there is no mention of the religious side of Christmas. If King Felipe even dared mention Jesus, he would be literally burned at the stake by Spaniards. It's as if it is politically incorrect to do so. But don't people realise that Christmas is about celebrating his birth? King Charles goes right the other way and whether you like his words or not, the setting is always marvelous with some magnificent music. I think the Spanish monarchy could up the King's speech at least in this direction and add some spice and mystery. Eladio loves to listen to the King's speech which I respect of course but I later sent him King Charles' speech for him to see what I mean and he agrees.
This is it if you didn't see it. And here is the
King of Spain's speech if you want to take a look.
None of us were hungry for dinner but I kept thinking about the raspberry tart and Suzy kept thinking about the leftover potato salad. So the three of us gathered in the kitchen to have a "little something" a bit like Pooh Bear, remember?
We went to bed early after a wonderful Christmas, as good as it gets. Peace and harmony reigned in our house and the family was united. What else could I ask for? Thus I slept like a babe that night and woke up on Thursday, Boxing Day at 8 am after a good 8 hours sleep. It was my best night's sleep in a long time.
Boxing Day is not a holiday in Spain. It is St. Stephen's Day which is a holiday in some parts but not in Madrid and Oli had to go to work. I always love Boxing Day, the laziest day of the year when you can do what you want, eat what you want and above all you don't have to cook as you can eat leftovers. Suzy asked me the origin of Boxing Day. I told her it was something to do with giving out boxes of alms, leftover food, etc to the poor in boxes the day after Christmas. If anyone was thinking it has to do with sport (football is played in England that day) or boxing, then no, that is not the origin which I think goes back to the 17th century and is mentioned in Samuel Pepys diary. We didn't give our leftovers to anyone. There were many including all the baklava I made and we have been eating them for most of the week meaning I haven't had to cook or do much meal planning except for Julio's dinner on Friday.
Eladio and I went on a much needed walk with Pippa to work off some of the excesses and then we drove to Boadilla for coffee at Manacor. Meanwhile Suzy laid the table for our Boxing Day lunch and honestly I didn't know what to choose for my meal. Thank you Suzy.
The news that day was all about the 20th anniversary of the terrible Tsunami in South East Asia on Boxing Day in 2004. It was the deadliest natural disaster of the 21st century and one of the worst in recorded history, killing over 227.000 people most of them in Indonesia. Hard hit too were Thailand, Sri Lanka and The Maldives. Caused by an earthquake under the sea measuring 9.1 on the Richter scale, it struck off the coast of Java, just before 8 am on Boxing Day 20 years ago this week. What a terrible tragedy that was.
Friday came and we went out to do some shopping to get a few ingredients for dinner with Julio. I was so happy Suzy wanted to join us as she rather shuns society apart from her immediate family. That was a good sign. She has known Julio as long as I have; since the year 2000 when I joined Nokia. Soon we will have been friends for 25 years which I look forward to celebrating. Our other great friend was, of course, Fátima and we were known as the "3 Musketeers". Oh how we miss her. Our annual Christmas dinners must have started in 2001 and for years we went to Julio's house for dinner and then he and Fátima came here. When the girls were younger, they also partook of this tradition and even my Father when he was still able. These days Julio comes here for dinner, then invites us to a restaurant around Kings Day. We look forward to that next week.
For dinner I had made a simple meal of more bits and bobs: Ibérico ham, tomato and tuna salad, small mussels sprinkled with garlic and lemon, peeled large prawns with avocado, bacon rolls, as well as some leftover potato salad. The wine was Luis Cañas Reserva which is divine and dessert was a King's Day cake known as Roscón de Reyes filled with whipped cream. It's Julio's favourite. He came bringing presents and we will be giving him his next week if only I could think what to get him. Before we sat down we had to have the de rigeuer photos where each year we look just a little bit older. When I first met Julio I was 42 and he was 30. I like to think we have aged well as has our friendship.
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| Annual Christmas dinner with Julio at our house this week |
My friend who today is a University professor, always loves my Christmas decor, lights and candles so after our Limoncello we retired to the main lounge and continued conversing until about 10.30. Julio always loves to make a French exit at corporate events but he doesn't have to do that with me and we allowed him to leave early. We always go to bed so early so we didn't mind at all. We were mentioning just how difficult it is these days to stay up till midnight on New Year's Eve after a dinner that ends around 9.30. He has a simple answer; put on the You Tube midnight chimes from the year before, celebrate and go to bed early. Later Suzy and I thought we might do the same that is, if Olivia and family agree, hahaha. We are becoming old fogies aren't we? But honestly staying up till midnight and watching the rubbish on TV before the clock strikes midnight is a real bore. So watch this space.
Yesterday, Saturday 28th December was the Spanish equivalent of All Fools' Day - the day of the Innocents (when Herod killed all the baby boys). We just had a quiet day, enjoying having the house to ourselves with no guests and not even Tana.
And today is Sunday 29th December and I am finishing writing the last post for this year. I have been publishing a weekly blog post since September 2005; nearly 20 years. I only wish I had started earlier to record more of my life but 20 years is quite a chunk. When I write next it will be the New Year, 2025 which we shall celebrate quietly - no parties this year. The last party we had was on December 31st 2019 just before the Pandemic. When we were toasting the New Year then and eating our grapes we had no idea what was coming. To think that was now 5 years ago. Covid is something those of us who lived through it will never forget and it will go down in history as one of the worst plagues in ever.
So here's to a great New Year everyone - no Covid, no more wars, peace in the world and at home, health and prosperity and above all love. Love is what makes the world go round.
Wishing you all a good Sunday too, cheers until the first Sunday of next year when in my first blog post of 2025 I will reflect on what 2004 brought for us all.
Till then, all the best, Masha
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