Mary Poppins Returns, our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Boxing day farewell dinner, Suzy left for Bali and other stories

30th December, 2018

This year's official Christmas Day photo with my husband Eladio

Good morning all. I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas holidays and that you had a great time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. As always our festivities were en famille, just as I like it, but more about that later.

Let me rewind to last Sunday. I woke up to the news of a volcano produced tsunami in Indonesia between Java and Sumatra. It killed many people. The death toll last Sunday was about 220 people but it would go up. Thank goodness Suzy was safe here with us although Bali was not affected. I don't like the fact that she lives by the so-called "Ring of Fire" an area associated with continuous tsunamis and volcanoes. It was just 14 years ago, on Boxing Day,  when the biggest tsunami ever hit the country and surrounding countries and killed 167.000 people in Indonesia alone.

The girls were still away in the small village of Olmedo de las Fuentes but would be home for lunch. I spent the morning cooking, preparing the trifle and potato salad for Christmas Eve and made lunch too. There was time for a walk with Eladio before lunch, so off we went in thick fog. It's been very foggy recently and we didn't encounter a soul on our walk. Later in the week though the fog disappeared and was replaced by the sun.

We had a humble family lunch with mostly leftovers but didn't want to eat too much, knowing what was coming at Christmas.

That afternoon the girls and I had tickets to see the much awaited Mary Poppins Returns at the Princesa cinemas in Madrid which is only one of two that shows films in their original language. You can see the official trailer here .We drove to the nearest metro station and then took the tube to Plaza España which is only 5 stops and walked about 300 m to the cinema.

The girls and I on the metro last Sunday on our way to the cinema

Both the girls and I were and are avid fans of the original version. I thought back that day to when my Mother took my brother and I to the premiere in 1965, I was just 8 and 57 years later I was about to see the premiere of a sequel made by Disney with the girls. The sequel is based on JL Travers' books which I really think I must read. It's a different story in a similar setting and I do like the new Mary Poppins, Emily Blunt, but she is a bit too strict, not very smiley and although she has a good voice it's not a patch on Julie Andrews.

Official poster of Mary Poppins Returns

The film lasted just over 2 hours and we were out in the cold and foggy street by about 6.25. From the cinema in "Plaza de los Cubos" we walked the short distance to the Plaza de España metro and took the tube to our nearest station and then picked up our car. We were very quick, home in about 45 minutes. We decided against taking the car into Madrid to avoid the traffic and I think it was a good decision.

Eladio and the dogs were waiting for us at home and to quote Suzy "it was nearly time for dinner". We made it and ate it together around the kitchen table. It was early to bed for us all at about 8.30 pm. Eladio and I watched the news and then the Jordi Evoli programme. We both fell asleep through it which comes to show it wasn't one of his best.

I didn't have a good night's sleep. I had forgotten to take my sleeping tablets and was awake many times in the night and kept thinking about food hahah, or rather all the food I had to prepare for our Christmas Eve dinner.

Thankfully I was up at 7 instead of 6 and was soon joined by Oli and then radiant red haired Suzy. Oli was going off to work and Suzy would be singing in the choir again for a concert organised by her old choir master, Javier Blanco. I would have loved to have joined her but had too many things to do.

One of the first things I did in the morning, surrounded by the rest of my family making their breakfasts, was to put the finishing touches to the trifle I had made the day before. This is what it looked like. Great right? Well, it tasted even better.

Home made trifle, our desert for Christmas Eve dinner

I had done most of our shopping and Christmas food preparations but still had to go out. First we went to pick up the croissants, etc we would have for breakfast on Christmas Day. Last year, naughty Norah ate nearly half of them. This year I would put them on top of the fridge well out of her way. Our next stop was to Mercadona for yet more humus for Suzy, our vegan daughter, and a few things I had forgotten to buy. It was then I suggested to Eladio we go and have coffee or chocolate with churros. After all it was quite early in the morning and it was Christmas Eve. I had been on a diet since 9th November and I was going to enjoy them immensely. Amazingly, we bumped into my best friend Fátima and joined her and her family at the local "churrería". There we greeted her mother Gloria, her brother Manuel, her beautiful daughter also called Fátima as well as her niece Gloria and husband. It was a nice unexpected meeting and lovely to see them on Christmas Eve. Here we are around the table at the cafe.

Meeting Fátima and her family for churros on the morning of Christmas Eve was a lovely surprise

After drinking a cup of coffee and eating 2 whole "porras", the thicker and longer version of a churro and taking the photo above, we wished them all a Happy Christmas and made our way home.

Lucy helped me unload everything. She made lunch that day - vegetable soup and lentils, bless her. I then went on my walk alone with Pippa in the sunshine. Eladio, nursing his cold, stayed behind poor chap. The walk was something I needed that day as we would eat so much I'm afraid.

It was lunch alone, just Eladio, my Father and myself. Lucy went off to spend Christmas with her family and at about 2.30 Zena, our Ukranian carer, came to take her place. Thankfully she celebrates Christmas on 7th January so we had someone to look after my Father while Lucy was away. In any case, Zena feels like family. She has worked for us for probably 20 years and we love her.

Having slept so badly the night before, I was in need of a siesta and slept right through the news. I woke up at 5 pm!!! Suzy and Oli were back and both girls helped me prepare the rest of the food for dinner, mostly the "bacon rolls" which Eladio calls "Rolls Royce" and a vegan variety for Suzy made with courgettes. It was lovely cooking together. Meanwhile, Eladio lit the fire in the library lounge and Zena brought up my Father to enjoy it. While cooking, the girls and I sang Christmas carols in harmony with 3 voices. Mine is pretty croaky what with my cold and lack of practice but it was a lovely moment. Even Eladio joined us with his baritone voice also affected by his cold.

For that very special Christmas Even dinner, called "cena de Nochebuena" in Spanish, we all dressed up in Christmas outfits. These are outfits from my Yoigo Christmas party days that are very useful. Here are Eladio and me getting into the spirit of things haha.

Eladio and I in our Christmas outfit.

Even Zena and my Father got dressed up hahaha. Here is a selfie of the 5 of us. I'm afraid my Father wasn't looking at the camera.

The 5 of us on Christmas Eve all dressed up for the occasion, even my Father

The table was groaning with all our favourite Christmas fare and on that night we had to be extra vigilant with Norah after our experience when Julio and Fátima came for dinner. Even so, she managed to get a pie from the table. After that she was locked out outside hahaha.

Our Christmas Eve dinner table with all our favourite fare

Eladio was keen to get started but I insisted on more photos, of us, of the table and of course to make a toast before digging into the delicious food that had taken so long to prepare. Here are the 4 of us in our Christmas outfits.

The 4 of us on Christmas Eve

There was a lot of choice on the table and we all had a bit of everything. I had made perushki (Russian pies), bacon and courgette rolls, lobster salad with mango and avocado, some croquettes which were badly fried I'm afraid, a plate of salmon and the piece de resistance was the home made potato salad covered in giant prawns. Then we had the delicious trifle as well as Spanish turrón, a sort of nougat that comes in all  varieties, including almond, marzipan, coconut, chocolate, etc. I ate far too much of it and my stomach complained

It had taken days of preparations to make but soon we had finished our dinner during which we listened to the King's speech on my iPad. Zena took my Father down to put him to bed and the 4 of us cleared away. We spent the rest of the evening by the fire in the lounge, enjoying being together, all of us very conscious that we only had a few more days with Suzy until she went on the 27th December.

It was relatively early to bed, at about 11 pm. We watched part of the Cleopatra film with Elizabeth Taylor, perfect for falling asleep through for me at least. Eladio watched most of it. He loves films about the Romans, so I left him to it.

On Christmas morning I was woken up by Phoebe our cat who must have stayed inside all night. It was 6.25 and I was the first up, thus I fed all 4 pets. I had lots to do before everyone got up on Christmas Day, the most important being preparing our family breakfast. All the girls had to do was wake up, open their stockings and come down for breakfast. I, more or less, always organise our family Christmas single handled and I felt very tired by the end of the day. I think it's the endless planning, shopping and cooking. On the bright side there would be no more cooking for days as for the rest of the week we would be eating the delicious leftovers.

Pippa and I joined the girls on Suzy's bed while they opened their stockings, full of little gimmicky things, a tradition I inherited from my paternal Grandmother. And here they are in bed surrounded by stockings and wrapping paper with Pippa looking on. I was told not to publish this picture but I suspect they only skim through my blog so won't see this one. If they do, I'll be in trouble. 

The girls opening their stockings

We had to hurry a bit on Christmas day as Suzy had online lessons to give to her Chinese pupils from 11 to 14h. They don't celebrate Christmas so she would have to work.

The breakfast table was groaning with the Alveran cafe pastries, mostly mini croissants which were delicious. Here is my soon to be 100 Father about to enjoy his Christmas breakfast.

My Father at the breakfast table on Christmas morning

From the dining room table we moved into the lounge for the highlight of Christmas, the opening of the presents all piled up under the tree. Here is the family, including Miguel, Ol's boyfriend, all expectant awaiting that most pleasurable moment of the year.

Photo of the family just before we opened the presents on Christmas morning

Before we could start opening the presents, it was photo time. I had to have a photo of Eladio and I together taken by Miguel, our traditional Christmas photo. I have chosen it to illustrate this week's post but here is another, more fun one, of the two of us with some silly glasses and of course with little Pippa by our side.

Photo of Eladio, Pippa and I with the silly Christmas glasses from the girls' stockings

There was more quantity than quality but we were all pleased with our presents. I got a beautiful Swiss key ring knife and pink Adidas trainers from Oli, some lovely rose essence from Suzy which came from Bali and then presents from Eladio and my Father  which I had bought and wrapped up myself  hahaha, the most important being one of my favourite perfumes, Daisy by Marc Jacobs.

Once the present session was over, everyone went to do their own thing. Suzy, of course had to give her online lessons from the dining room. She used lots of the Christmas stuff for props. I could hear her teaching from the kitchen and could appreciate what a good teacher she is. Most of her pupils are very young, starting from about 4 years old. Here she is, in her element.

Suzy teaching on Christmas Day

 I had to make the lunch, Turkey, well rather "pularda" (a fattened hen), and all the trimmings. It took me about 3 hours to make and it was all eaten in about 25 minutes!!

Christmas Day lunch

I ate too much and felt so full for the rest of the day I didn't want another morsel. Part of that was because of eating the delicious Swiss chocolates Oli had brought back from Zurich. They were divine. 

We all had a siesta after that, apart from Suzy who had to do her follow up evaluations of the lessons. I have to admit I was tired and very full and woke up at 5.30 when it was nearly dark. The girls agreed to join me on a late walk with the dogs and we had the path completely to ourselves. I felt so much better when I got home; lighter to say the least. The girls went out to see friends while Eladio and I read in our festive lounge. Eladio had some of the Christmas Eve leftovers for dinner but I all I could face was an orange and a few cherries.

We went to bed feeling tired but happy and watched another episode of La Verdad until we fell asleep before midnight.

Boxing Day dawned, Suzy's last day with us. Oli and Miguel had returned to their flat as my younger daughter had to go to work that day. Boxing Day is not a holiday in Spain. I spent the morning with Suzy. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her before she left on Thursday evening to return to Bali, oh so far away. I had no obligations of any sort that morning. I didn't have to work or cook and it was a good feeling to be free to be with Suzy. We were out and about on various errands and had lots of time to talk to each other, mostly about her future and what she wants to do with her life. Thankfully, it seems, she will be coming back to Spain in June but is not sure what she wants to do.

We had lunch with my Father who was sad to hear it was Suzy's last day with us. She came for 2 weeks and time has flown as always. We had a siesta while she packed and then the 3 of us went for a walk with the dogs. It was curtailed by a flock of sheep, thus we only got 45 minutes exercise versus 1h 15 minutes. Home again, Suzy got ready to go out to see a school friend, Pili, the last social engagement during her time here, apart from dinner with us that night. Meanwhile, I prepared lots of our leftovers to take to Oli and Miguel's flat for a farewell Boxing Day dinner for Suzy. We were there by about 9.15 and soon Suzy arrived and the family was complete. We sat down to a delicious dinner but before anyone was allowed to dig in, we had to have a family photo. Miguel, as usual, was our photographer. This is the lovely photo of the 4 of us that night. We don't have many photos together and I treasure every one of them.

Photo of the 4 of us, courtesy of Miguel, on Boxing Day night with Suzy

It was very sad when dinner finished or rather when it was time to go because it meant that Suzy and Oli, our two daughters had to say goodbye to each other until June, a separation of 6 months. Both girls cried while I looked on and shed a tear too. Oli made Suzy promise to come back.

I went back in my car with Suzy so as to have more time together, while Eladio drove the Volvo. We were home by just before midnight and went straight to bed. That was when I got a sudden reservation from 5 Mexicans who would be coming to stay from Friday to Sunday, the day after Suzy vacated her room. I would far rather have had her to stay longer.

Thursday 27th December came, the day of Suzy's departure. The good thing was that her flight wasn't until late at night. I would be taking her to the airport at about 7 pm. I was conscious all day that it was her last day with us and hardly left her side. I accompanied her in the morning to do a routine blood test then took her to the hairdresser for a trim. On our way home we stopped at the Chinese shop for her to buy more educational props for her online teaching lessons to small children.

Once home, Suzy gave her last lessons while here and was dressed for the occasion. She loves her lessons and seems to be a good teacher - I listened to her a lot while in the kitchen.

Suzy teaching on Thursday morning

We waited for her to finish at around 2.15 to have lunch together. It would be her last lunch with her Grandfather and I know he was sorry to see her go. She is so sweet and attentive to him.

Suzy then had to pack her huge rucksack and a smaller one. We took a siesta after which Eladio went off to a routine doctor's appointment. He said goodbye to his beloved daughter. I was more fortunate and was able to be with her during her last hours at home. Her room was a mess but I prefer it that way with her in it rather than any guests. At about 7 it was time to leave and for Suzy to say goodbye to the dogs, to Lucy and to my Father. Dropping her off at the airport nearly broke my heart. She was going across the world, so far away from us and although she has promised to come back in June that's still 6 months without her. Our family is never complete without Suzy.

As I was driving home I got a phone call from her. There had been a hitch checking in. They nearly didn't let her fly to Bali as she had a one way ticket only and her visa expires there on 3rd January. Thankfully, in the end, they let her fly. Once in Bali, she would be joined by her London girlfriends who would be spending NYE with her and would be there for 12 days. Her main mission after that is to find an apartment or flat with a good wifi connection. The latter is crucial for her online lessons. Her other mission is to increase the number of lessons from only 6 hours a week, preferably to 6 hours a day. She needs that to be financially independent.

Meanwhile, Oli was working, editing her latest programme on Switzerland.  Here she is working hard to finish the editing.

Oli working on editing her programme about Switzerland on Thursday which would be her last day with Madrileños por el Mundo,

I came home to an empty house without Suzy. Her charisma fills it and her absence was very noticeable. Eladio and I had a light dinner together after which we went upstairs to bed to watch the news and the last 2 available episodes of La Verdad.

I had a bad night coughing and had to take 2 sleeping tablets. Thus I woke up at 8 am on Friday morning. Friday was the quietest day of the week. It was also Spain's equivalent of All fools' day, called all "los santos inocentes" here (innocent saints). We didn't play any jokes, neither did I recognise any in the news. I really missed Suzy's company on Friday, the day after she left. She would be travelling most of the day and arrived in Bali at 11 pm local time, about 4 pm our time. An hour after her arrival, her friends from London would be landing. We haven't heard anything since she landed but I'm sure she's very happy to be with her friends.

I spent the morning cooking. We had finally finished the Christmas leftovers and were back to normal food; vegetable soup followed by grilled fish, roast peppers and green beans. I'm afraid I had some chocolate after that. You see there are still chocolates in the house and they are difficult to resist.

We had a siesta and I coughed through most of it. My damned dry cough after my cold will just not go away. We spent the afternoon reading quietly together in our festive lounge. At around 8.15, 3 of our 5 Mexican guests arrived. The other 2 would apparently be arriving the next day. We greeted them and showed them their rooms. They are a family from a town on the border of the US near Texas. Naturally I asked them what they thought of Trump's wall and they told us they were disgusted with him and with North American in general. I can sympathise with them.

We left them to it, to sleep off their jet lag, and we had a quiet dinner together before going up to our quarters to watch the news and the last available episode of La Verdad on Amazon Prime.

Saturday came and it was shopping day. Believe it or not we were running out of supplies and had to go out to do the food shopping at Mercadona and Carrefour Market. There was no sign of our Mexicans and we wouldn't see them until the evening. After unloading the shopping, there was time for a glorious walk in the sun. We then came home to a quiet lunch with my Father. The house feels so empty without the girls.

Last night we had dinner out with Oli and Miguel at a new restaurant for us; Origen Gastro Bar in Majadahonda. Poor Oli had a bad throat and had completely lost her voice. She even brought along a mini black board and chalk to communicate with. It's funny but she has never lost her voice before and for her, a TV reporter, her voice is her biggest asset. We urged her to go to A&E today. The restaurant was not our type but it was lovely to go out, get dressed up and put makeup on. We hadn't been out to dinner for a long time so yesterday was a treat.

And today is Sunday 30th, nearly the end of the year. When I write next it will be 2019. Fancy that. When I look back on 2018, in general life has treated us well. Some of the highlights of 2018 were our trip to Yorkshire and Manchester in January, Sandra's 60th in Lombardy, Suzy's stay in the spring until she left in June for Bali, the Cousinade in La Teilée in France, our various stays in our beloved Montrondo and Santa Pola, the visit of Kathy and Phil but more than anything I will remember 2018 for being a peaceful, happy and prosperous year and for all the enjoyable time Eladio and I spent together. He is my rock and my life would not be the same without him. He is aslo my partner and it is the little things we do together, such as preparing dinner, going for our walks, etc. that bring us so much joy and togetherness.  This year too has been the consolidation of our Airbnb  "business". We have earned a lot of money, much of which will have to go to pay taxes in July but we have also met some lovely people from all around the world. I especially remember Esteban, the Argentinian rally driver, Rania who is Lebanese but lives in Brussels, Lorena from Venezuela, our Jewish judge, Amiram, my dear English family including 7 year old Brody who told me he wanted to move in with me and of course the lovely French family from Pas de Calais with their delightful daughter Marianne. It was Marianne who inspired Oli and I to take French lessons.

I wonder what awaits us in 2019. I can only ask for the new year to be as good as 2018. I don' need any more. I wish you all too a prosperous and happy 2019.

See you next week - or next year. Cheers till then,
Masha

To Valencia with the girls, paella and orange trees, Lobster goes live, Merry Christmas to you all, home again, drones at Gatwick, presentation of Mariano Guindal's memoirs, naughty Norah and other stories.

Sunday 23rd December, 2018

Outside the flood lit cathedral in Valencia last Sunday with my girls

Good morning everyone. It's Sunday and there are only two days to Christmas. Nearly all my preparations are made and as a family the 5 of us are looking forward to this year's festivities together.

This time last week, the girls and I went to Valencia where Olivia's boyfriend lives and works when he is not in Madrid with her. We left early and being just the 3 of us in the car was very special. It's about 3.5 h drive and we were in good spirits. We were to meet Miguel for lunch at a restaurant called "Senia" where we were to eat the most divine paella, a variety called "arroz señoret" which is called so due to all the ingredients being shelled. This was it.

Our "arroz señoret" at the restaurant last Sunday

Paella is considered by most tourists as Spain's flagship dish but I tell you it's not. It's a regional dish. Paella originally comes from the Valencia region, encompassing also Alicante and Castellón and this is the area where they really know how to make it well. It's never a good idea to order a dish of paella outside this region. It will only usually disappoint. Don't fall for tourist trap cheap paella outside this area as it's never good. Our "arroz señoret" was divine, I can tell you.

It was great to be with the girls, "baching it" as I called it, i.e. enjoying a "bachelor's life" together, albeit for a short time. Here are the four of us at lunch that day.

Lunch on Sunday in Valencia

It was much warmer in Valencia than in Madrid. We had left in cold and fog and arrived to 20ºc and sunshine. However, when it gets cooler here it can be quite cold as the city is very humid owing to being by the sea and people don't generally have central heating in their houses. But we were lucky last Sunday as it was warm.

After lunch we drove into the centre of town. I was keen to see the old part which I had never seen before. Of course I have been to Valencia on many occasions but always for work. Well the old town is lovely and there was a great Christmas atmosphere with an outdoor skating rink, an old fashioned round about, called a "carousel" these days, a bit like the one in the first Mary Poppins film, as well as lots of Christmas lights and a beautiful nativity crib. We parked near the old station, called "Estación del Norte". I was bowled over by its beauty. It's a prime example of Valencian Art Nouveau. I especially loved the fruit mosaics on the façade.

Fruit mosaics on the façade of the old station in Valencia

We were lucky to have with Miguel with us, our family photographer, who took some great photos that day. 

Outside the old train station in Valencia with the girls

Valencia, being the capital of what is known as "la huerta de España" (Spain's orchard), all the trees lining the streets of the city are orange trees. No one else took any notice but I still find them so exotic. I remember when we first came to Alicante which is in the same area, in the early 70's, being amazed to see orange and lemon trees. I still find it exotic.

An orange tree in Valencia

It was great to walk off our heavy lunch and we must have walked for at least 4 hours. Miguel was our unofficial private guide, hahaha. We even stopped to go inside the 600 year old building, the seat of the local government, the "Palau de la Generalitat" which is steeped in history. The Cathedral was imposing too.  The photo illustrating this week's blog post is of the girls and I outside it. 

From the old city centre we walked to the shopping streets and I have to say that Valencia is spoiled for choice. It is a city with a population of about 750.000 people and you can tell there is a lot of money here. Many Russians and Chinese seem to have invaded Valencia and there were lots of tourists too. Miguel took us to an old market, "Mercado de Colon" which has been turned into an elegant gastro centre. I loved it, it was so beautiful and  similar in style to the old train station both of which include the most extraordinary fruit mosaics on the façade. I think this symbolises the importance of fruit from the region, mainly oranges.

Fruit mosaics on the building of the old Valencian market "Mercado de Colón"

With is lavish decor and extraordinary design. I read later it is one of the main works of Valencia art nouveau from the beginning of the 20th century. 

The entrance to the "Mercado de Colón" in Valencia

Oli, Miguel and I did some Christmas shopping in some of the very attractive shops after which we put an end to our tour of the city and returned to Miguel's bachelor flat where he lives in an area called Burjasott, about 20km from the centre.

In his very bachelor flat, the 3 of us settled in and then made a makeshift dinner although none of us was really hungry after the paella we had for lunch. We were tired and so it was early to bed for us all. 

Tuesday came and it was ours for the taking. After Miguel left for work, the girls and I had a lovely breakfast together and then went into Valencia again. We spent a lazy morning, a lot of it at a nice cafeteria. Next to the cafeteria was an official lottery administration. I was determined to buy some Christmas lottery called "El Gordo" (the fat one). Perhaps buying El Gordo tickets is the biggest Christmas tradition in Spain. I spent 100 euros on 5 of them but that's nothing compared to what other people spend. Each ticket could give you winnings of 400.000 euros. Wouldn't that be nice?

One of our Christmas lottery tickets. Oli bought this for us in Valencia

We had lunch with Miguel at a modest little bar near his work at RTVE in Paterna as a cameraman. It didn't seem much of a place but it's important to Oli and Miguel as this is where they first met some 6 years ago. She was in Valencia reporting for the La Mañana programme and it was through work that they met. 6 years later I know he is the man of her life and what I call excellent "husband material". If only they would get married but Oli has no intention of doing so, depriving me of a wedding. Oh well. How modern couples are today. 

Suzy had to leave in the afternoon so Oli and I took her to the train station. She had to work the next day so Oli and I were left alone after we saw her off. We did more Christmas shopping after that before returning to Miguel's flat for a quiet dinner and time together.

Tuesday came and this time it was I who had to work. The press release on the commercial launch of Lobster and the unveiling of its tariffs was to go out at 10 am that morning. Lobster, the only all in English mobile operator for English speaking expats in Spain, was going live that morning. If you are interested, this is their website.

Lobsters tariffs

I was busy all morning and couldn't look up from my computer until lunch time. We went to pick up Miguel and had lunch at a non descript little place where I'm sure the paella wasn't good. The worst thing was the service which was so slow.

In the afternoon, Oli and I did the last of our Christmas present shopping. I finished it that day and wrapped everything up on Wednesday when we came home. There will be lots of quantity this year but not much quality I'm afraid.  I think this will be the most frugal Christmas we have ever had, as far as presents go, but who cares as for me the most important thing is having my whole family here. 

Here by the way is this year's family Christmas photo. It's an old photo but I love it because my Father is in it and while the photo was being taken, he was enjoying his glass of wine. Good for him. With this photo I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas, that is all of you who read my blog, those of you know and those of you I don't. It's always wonderful to know I have followers of my modest little family diary which for some reason seems to reach all the corners of this earth. I wish you would all tell me the secret of why I have so many readers.

Merry Christmas to you all from the Freijo Lloyd family

On Wednesday, Oli and I were up early and after seeing Miguel off who leaves for work at 6.45, we both got ready to head back to Madrid.  We were home by about 1.30 and the first "person" to greet me was of course my beloved Pippa. She went beserk with joy and the feeling was mutual. Thankfully her paw had completely recovered and it must have just been a sprain. The best thing about being home was having lunch with the family. There is no place like home and even though we had had a lovely time in Valencia it was great to be home again. 

Suzy wasn't home until the evening. That day she went with Chati to see an ex London friend in  a village in Cáceres. Suzy has only come for two weeks and is determined to see as many of her friends and contacts as possible. Thus her social agenda is completely full. Thankfully we will have her to ourselves on the 24th and 25th December.

Friday came and our long term Scottish lodger, dear Andy, was leaving for France to spend Christmas with his family. He must miss them a lot. We have grown very fond of him and he now feels like part of the family.

He was flying from Madrid where Barajas airport was peaceful although busy. Gatwick, the UK's second largest airport, on the other hand was facing the most terrible disruption to flights due to drones. From Wednesday all flights were cancelled and this would carry on until Friday, ruining many passengers' dreams of being with their families at Christmas. It seems that at least 2 industrial drones were being operated by rogues whose aim was to shut the airport down at such a critical time. Drones are getting more and more popular but regulation is very difficult to enforce. Sometimes technology is ahead of legislation. The same applies to the new electric scooters which have become so popular. Even the Army was called in, possibly to try to shoot the drones down. I hoped they would catch the criminals, because it is a crime to fly drones in the airspace of an airport and they could face up to 5 years in prison. As I am writing a man and a woman are in custody for questioning. Who, I wonder, gets a kick out of causing so much disruption and pain to passengers?   I would not have liked to be a passenger at Gatwick this week.

Gatwick airport closed due to rogue drones this week

My cold is coming to an end but on Thursday both Eladio and Suzy came down with one or at least the start of one. I just hope my Father doesn't catch it. I went out to do the Christmas food shopping, or most of it, to avoid the queues on Christmas Eve while Suzy gave her online English classes to her Chinese pupils, some aged just 4. Apparently the parents join in which must not be easy for her as a teacher. Oli went back to work and we wouldn't see her again until today.

Surprisingly for the last day of Autumn it was quite sunny on Thursday. I went on our walk alone with Pippa while Eladio preferred to stay at home nursing his cold. I really needed the exercise as we hadn't done much walking in Valencia. I came back to sit with Eladio in our cozy and festive lounge where we were soon joined by Suzy but not for long. She was going out again, another appointment in her busy schedule hahahaha. Thus we had a quiet dinner together and alone and went up to bed at 8.30 pm. The main news that night was the meeting of the Spanish President, Pedro Sánchez and the head of the Catalan Government, Quim Torra. At least there is some dialogue now which is a good sign after so much tension but of course Torra will not get what he wants, a referendum for independence, as for that the Spanish Constitution would have to be altered and for it to be altered there would have to a national referendum. The next day, the Spanish Government would hold its cabinet meeting in the Catalan capital, seen by some as a provocation and demonstrations were  held. I hoped there would be no violence but there was.  Both Eladio and I were very tired that night and I think we switched off the TV at about 11 pm. Neither of us slept well that night.

Friday 21st December dawned, the shortest day of the year and the Winter solstice. It was to be an exciting day for me. However, in Catalonia there would be trouble. There were demonstrations in protest of the Spanish Government meeting there and some very violent scenes. It's just dreadful how this whole issue has divided Spain, the Catalans from the rest of the country and between the Catalans themselves. The independence movement has always said their methods would be peaceful but that wasn't so on Friday.

Friday for Suzy and I was quite exciting. We were going to the official presentation of a book - his memoirs - written by our friend, the Spanish financial journalist, Mariano Guindal at the HQ of Repsol in downtown Madrid. It was lovely to have the occasion to get dressed up, put make up on , wear heels and above all, not to be in charge of lunch. Here we are ready to go.

Suzy and I ready to go out on Friday

Oli couldn't come as she was working and Eladio stayed at home to nurse his cold. The presentation started at midday and was anything other than institutional. It was emotional, funny and engaging. Mariano was flanked by a famous Spanish journalist, Victoria Prego, a famous economist, Luis Garicano and the ex Minister of Finance and now VP of the BEC, Luis de Guindos. They all agreed Mariano was the financial journalist with more scoops than any other and through some of  them the instigator of the downfall of certain corrupt and rich business people in this country, the most famous of who was Ruiz Mateos from the Rumasa company.

Mariano on stage during the presentation of his memoirs

The audience was full of his family and friends, many of them quite famous like Joaquín Almunia, Cándido Velázquez or the ex Minister Solchaga. Mariano and his adored wife Mar and their son San are great friends of ours and both Suzy and Oli had been San's tutor for many years. Suzy hadn't seen San for at least 7 years and now he is 16, nearly grown up. Their reunion was beautiful and such a pity Oli couldn't be there. San told Suzy she had been his best English teacher ever:-) Here they are together.

Suzy and San at the book presentation

I have mentioned Mariano's memoirs before, "un hombre con buena suerte" (a man with good luck). Both Eladio and I are now half way through it and loving every bit of it. It's his own personal story of rags to riches, well not quite, but to famous journalist as well as the story of Spain from the post Civil War days, through Franco's regime to the transition to democracy and until our modern days. It's a story of triumph, his own and that of Spain. It reads like a novel and is interwoven with personal experiences and stories of his family, his great passion. I am honoured to be mentioned in the book in the 7 page chapter about the rise of mobile phones. It was thanks to me he finally used one in the late 90's when I took him on a press trip to Scotland to see the Motorola factory.   We are reading the book on our kindles but at the event I bought one, just so that Mariano could sign it. Here he is signing it. The funny thing is that he wanted to dedicate it to us all, including my Father. Fine you might think, well yes, except that he always thought my Father's name was "Henry". He got mixed up once when they came to lunch here. Henry was the name of our cat, not the name of my Father. So, the book we have now is dedicated to our cat hahahaha.

Suzy and I with Mariano Guindal on Friday

There was a cocktail party afterwards but Suzy and I preferred to eat something less fattening. We said our goodbyes and at about 2 pm were outside the huge Repsol "campus". We had lunch in a bar across the road and then drove back home. The traffic was horrendous and it took us 1.5h when it had taken just 25 minutes to get there in the morning. It was the Christmas holiday traffic of course, with so many people leaving work and heading out of Madrid to spend Christmas with their loved ones elsewhere.

Suzy had a routine appointment with the doctor at 4 pm and we got there just on time. There was a bit of waiting and after a stop at the chemist, we were finally home at about 5.30. It was already getting dark - being the shortest day of the year - so there would be no walk again that day. I had some work to do for Lobster before I could wind down and join Eladio (and his cold) in the lounge to chat about the day and read.

Pippa joined us and, inspired by our Christmas decor, I put her seasonal outfit on, one I had bought last year. She looked so cute but froze when I put it on. She's not used to wearing clothes and looked like she was in a straight jacket. Here she is in her outfit.

Pippa doesn't like her Christmas outfit

Suzy would be spending the night at Oli's place and on Saturday morning they were going to a "Casa rural" (holiday cottage) with some of their friends. Thus Eladio and I were alone. There were no guests either for a change. In actual fact it's a relief to have the house to ourselves. We had a modest dinner, omelet and spinach and went up to bed really early at 8.30 pm. That night we watched one and a half of 3 new episodes of the Spanish series "La Verdad" on Prime Video.

Saturday came and I had lots to do. The girls sent us a photo of the two of them just as they were about to leave for a small village called Olmedo de Las Fuentes, about 50km from Madrid for  a short weekend with their group of friends. I love it when they are together.

The girls off on their jolly on Saturday morning.

Even though Eladio had a cold and was feeling under the weather he came with me to do lots of errands. The old Volvo wouldn't start and our morning of errands was nearly aborted until it finally did. We went to the chemist, to Mercadona, to Carrefour Market, to the Alverán pastry shop to order croissants, etc for Christmas morning and we had a coffee there. From Boadilla we drove into the old part of the town to the post office where I queued up to send some  envelopes to France and to England. I was told they wouldn't leave until next Wednesday and would probably take up to 2 weeks. Shame on "Correos", Spain's postal service. It must be one of the worst in the developed world. From Boadilla we drove to Pozuelo for my last errand. I wanted to go to Taste of America, an American food store actually owned by friends, or rather a colleague from Motorola, José M and his American born wife Dana. Eladio parked while I went in and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw both José and Dana standing outside their shop. They have 5 or 6 of their own and  11 franchise stores. It was lovely to see them and I had to have a photo with José (Pepe). Both of us were founding employees of Motorola Spain when it started selling mobile phones in this country in 1990. That is 28 years ago and I was just 33 and Pepe 32. Wow that's a long time. Here we are together both us of now in our early 60's. It was great to bump into him and his pretty wife. Both Eladio and I well remember their wedding. Today they are proud grandparents of 2 children.

With José M (Pepe) an ex Motorola colleague outside one of his American shops, Taste of American, on Saturday

I went to get cranberry sauce and stuffing for our turkey on Christmas Day and when I went to pay I was told I had a 10% discount after Pepe had instructed the shopkeeper to apply the friends' discount. That was so nice of him.

While we were driving home, I learned that Real Madrid had just won the Fifa Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi. It was to be their 3rd cup in a row in this championship. Real Madrid beat Al Ain of Abu Dhabi 4-1 making them the Champions of the World once more. If only they could do better in La Liga.

We were home on time for a lunch of leftovers; Lucy's vegetable soup and Zena's Russian dish, stuffed red peppers which my Father loves.

Then it was time for the news and a short siesta. It was then that I filled the girls' stockings which they will open on Christmas morning. The stockings get filled with very small and insignificant presents and some joke items. This is a tradition I learned from my Grandmother. When I was young, stockings were just for children. My "children" are now 33 and 34 but still insist I carry on with the tradition. The stockings themselves bring back memories of my Mother as it was she who knitted them for the girls when they were very small. So we have kept them lovingly. Here are the filled stockings which today I can hang outside the girls' bedroom doors days before the event. When they were small I had to hide them until dawn on Christmas morning.

The girls' Christmas stockings, knitted by my Mother many years ago

The news was all about the Christmas lottery (El Gordo) winners. The top prize has been spread throughout the country. It's the same scenes every year, the lucky winners celebrating with champagne, ticket in their hands outside the establishment where they had bought it. I don't know yet if we have won anything but I very much doubt it. We have to check the numbers of our lottery tickets. In any case, I am really pleased for those who have won. One family won 2.8 million lottery after a 75 year old man bought 6 tickets. He kept one for himself and gave the rest to a friend and to his children and family. Each one of them will have won 400.000 euros. It's a lovely story.

Last night was the annual dinner at our house for my great friends, Fátima and Julio. They were coming at 8.30 and I had lots to do to prepare the meal, lay the table as well as light all the candles and various Christmas gadgets we have. Eladio says it takes half an hour to switch everything off, hahah. I, however, love the magic it all brings. The Christmas spirit was in strong evidence when I had finished. Here is Eladio relaxing in the lounge with Pippa while I put the finishing touches to our meal.

Lots of Christmas spirit at our house. 

Dinner would be a buffet and I would prepare, tuna fish spread with salad, prawn cocktail, fresh asparagus, "perushki" (Russian meat pies), a plate of ham and a plate of lomo. For desert, I would make a sort of pavlova with meringue, raspberries, yoghurt instead of cream and mango and raspberry ice cream which had to be soy based for my friend Fátima who is allergic to lactose. Here is the table before I brought the dishes in.

The table on Saturday night

I should have kept the table like that until the last minute. You will read why a bit further down. That night I wore my new Zara gold jacket for the first time. Instead of complimenting me, my husband said I looked like a Circus master and that the only thing missing was a whip!!!!  I think I looked great and I loved the jacket hahaha.

My friends were on time which is a bit of a miracle as Fátima is usually "late for every meal" (The song Maria from The Sound of Music). We had drinks in the lounge and shortly afterwards I went to light the candles on the table which by them was full of all the dishes I had made. I saw a few crumbs which seemed a bit mysterious. It was then that I saw the plates of ham, lomo and perushki were completely empty except for one perozhok (singular o perushki in Russian). Even the tuna spread salad had a big gap in it. I knew immediately who the culprit was. Even though we didn't see her in the act, I knew it had been Norah. One of the chairs must have been sufficiently far enough from the table for her to climb on it and from there to the table. I couldn't believe nearly half of my meal had been eaten by our naughty beagle. It's not the first time this has happened but we never learn our lesson. No doubt she did it when we were greeting our friends. We were furious with her. Thankfully I had some more lomo in the fridge but had to bring out more food to replace what Norah had eaten. You won't be surprised to hear that this morning she didn't want her breakfast.

Eventually we sat down at the table to enjoy our annual Christmas dinner together or the remains of it hahaha.  Yesterday I brought out the crackers, always the highlight of our meal and here are the 3 of us with the cracker Christmas hats on.

With Fátima and Julio last night

We later sat in our Chrismassy lounge and caught up on each other's lives. The next meal will be at Julio's place and we fixed the date for the "Noche de Reyes" (Kings' night) on 5th January. Our friends, being very civilised, left quite early which meant we went to bed at about 11.30. I'm afraid just one glass of wine at dinner gave me a terrible headache. Blast. I never learn either.

And today is Sunday 23rd, just one day before Christmas Eve. I have lots to do, mostly preparing food for dinner tomorrow and I have to do it this morning before the girls come back for lunch - have to prepare that too. So it will be cooking non stop today. In the afternoon I have tickets for the 3 of us to see The Return of Mary Poppins at the Renoir cinemas in Madrid, one of the only ones to offer films in their original language. No way could we see this film in Spanish. Mary Poppins means a lot to me. I shall never forget the premiere when I was a little girl. I passed on my love for the film and for Julie Andrews to my girls. I'll let you know what we thought of it in next week's post.

So my friends, it's time to sign off. This is my last post before Christmas day and once again I wish you all a wonderful, merry and joyful time, hopefully, like me, with your families or at least with  some of your loved ones.

Till next Sunday,
All the best, Masha

Oli in Switzerland, Suzy home from Bali and Christmas came, a special choir concert, all together again and other stories.

Sunday 16th December 2018

The two sisters reunited.

Hello everyone. How are you all doing? We are just fine. Like a Mother hen, I am happy to have my whole family together and almost everything is ready for Christmas, the celebrations of which have already begun as you will read.

Last Sunday was quiet. There was no sign of my guests from Florida, Evelyn and her brother Mauricio.  Miguel from Medellín was up at about 11.30 and being the "mother hen" I am, I drove him to the nearest bus stop. He was one of those lovely overnight guests we often get.

There was not much news from the girls that day. Oli was in Switzerland and I was hoping for news and photos but got none. Suzy was much on our minds, as she always is, as just two  days later she would be with us. It's been 6 months since we last saw her and that's an awful lot.

Our lives continued with our quiet Sunday routines. In contrast, the city of Madrid was inundated with Argentinian football fans coming to see the Copa de Libertadores final at the Real Madrid stadium between the two Buenos Aires clubs, River Plate and Boca Juniors. I was happy to see that our ex carer and home help, Olga, was able to go to the match. Madrid is home to the biggest population of Argentinians outside the country, some 350.000 and she is one of them. We couldn't watch the match, as, as usual, it was on pay per view TV. River Plate won in the end which made me happy for Olga. Happily there was no violence or important disturbances, thanks to a security detail of 4000 police officers, never before deployed for a football match in Spain and that's saying a lot. I wonder on which side the Pope was on.

While all the fans, some 70 to 80.000 were on their way to the stadium, Eladio and I took the dogs for our proverbial early evening "constitutional". We had the path more or less to ourselves and it was a beautiful autumn evening with the sun on the horizon just before it set.

On our walk on Sunday in the late afternoon with the dogs

We came back to a peaceful and quiet house and I had an hour and a half to myself. I chose to watch my series, The Family, instead of reading and did so until it was time to go down and prepare our dinner. Andrew was back from his climb up a mountain and in good form. I do enjoy our banter with  him in English in the kitchen.

As usual it was early to bed that night and being Sunday we watched "Salvados", this time about the new right wing party in Spain, Vox, which had gained 12 seats in the Andalusian elections. Feeling less stressed on Sunday with work out of the way, I slept quite well for me and was awake at 6.20 on Monday morning.

On Monday, true to a new tradition, off we went to the fruit and veg market in Villaviciosa. We got there at 10 am, half an hour later than last week and there was already a queue.

The stall where we buy our fruit and veg

These are the crates full of the fruit and veg we bought that morning, enough I hoped, to last us the week. Suzy, my daughter who is a semi vegan, flexitarian, or sometimes vegetarian would certainly have approved and a lot of what I bought was with her in mind.

The 2 big boxes of fruit and veg to last us a week

Once home and after putting everything away, it was time to start on all the peeling and cutting needed for our lunch. I had to make our proverbial pumpkin soup and then lots of veg to have with a meat loaf I also had to make. So I was a busy bee in the kitchen that morning but happy to be so as I find cooking, when there is time on my hands, quite relaxing.

Meanwhile in the UK, Teresa May was having a hard time. Knowing the Brexit deal with the EU would not muster enough votes in Parliament, she announced a delay on the vote to take place on 11th December. She would then rush off to Brussels to try and get some more concessions made to the plan which the EU has said it won't make as the deal can not be renegotiated. That's one big mess in UK politics. It got worse during the week.

France has its problems too, as you all know and it was on Monday that its haughty young president, Emanuel Macron finally addressed the nation after the weeks of violent riots from the "gilets jaunes". He announced an increase of 100 euros to the minimum salary, tax free overtime pay and a tax free end of year bonus from employers who could pay it. He also announced that pensions under 2000 euros/month would not suffer more taxes. He also admitted his "mea culpa". I think his address to the nation and announcement of measures to appease the gilets jaunes have come a bit late and have a feeling it won't be enough for them. After all, what sort of increase is 100 euros/month or getting employers to fork out a year end bonus, "if they can"? It doesn't sound much but if you compare the minimum monthly salary in France, at nearly 1.500 euros to that in Spain, just over 800, then I am wondering why we don't have more protests in Spain. The Spanish minimum wage is due to increase by 100 euros which is a bit of a laugh but I was appalled to hear Brussels thought it was not a good idea for the Spanish economy. At the end of the week Macron would be facing a vote of no confidence in the French Parliament. He wasn't the only European leader under stress.

In Spain we have our own gilets jaunes, in the form of the radical Catalan "CDRs" (Commission for the defence of the republic). Also dressed in yellow traffic jackets, they have been closing motorways and generally causing chaos all over the region. They are spurred on by the President of the Catalan "Generalitat", Quim Torra, who has proposed the Slovenian way to achieve independence. The Slovenian way resulted in the death of 70 people and was fraught with violence. Violence is never the way in my opinion.

We watched all this on the news after lunch and it's all a bit depressing. I ask myself, why, on the news don't we get to see more positive stories. I suppose the answer can be summed up in that familiar British phrase: "no news is good news" but I don't agree.  In this day and age we are inundated with negative news and the world isn't all negative. Good things happen too.

We can count our blessings as generally we have a lot of good things in our lives. What would we do without our lovely daily walks I ask?  On Monday, true to tradition again, we got the dogs ready and were about to leave when we couldn't find Pippa. I whistled and walked all around the garden until I found the poor little thing stuck in the bushes. She had her harness and lead on and the latter had got stuck in a bush. She was trembling when I found and rescued her. Isn't she sweet?

Pippa stuck in the bushes on Monday just before our walk

We came back in the dark. Soon it will be the Winter Solstice after which the days will slowly get longer.

Our guests from Florida were out. It's funny but I hadn't seen them since I arrived and was a bit worried. It turned out they were on "American time", getting up at 11 in the morning, busing it into Madrid and returning at 11 pm.  No wonder I didn't see them.

We had dinner on our own - delicious "ibérico ham" and salad, saw the news again and then I fell asleep watching I don't know what. I was awake at 5 the next morning but forced myself to stay in bed.

Tuesday came, the day Suzy was leaving Bali on her long return journey home. She left at about 11.30 am our time but wouldn't get here until Wednesday morning at about 7 am. She flew via Doha on Qatar airways  - 10 hours from Bali to Doha and 7.5 h from Doha to Madrid. We wished her  a safe journey and she was in my mind all day.

Our guests from Florida would be on their way too, next stop Barcelona before travelling to Fez in Morocco. I had only seen the sister, Evelyn, after they arrived and only saw her brother when they left that morning. They were great guests and later left me a glowing review. There would be no more guests until Thursday.

Meanwhile, Oli was in Zurich, Switzerland where it was -2ºc - pretty cold. To think it was 30ºc in Bali, what a difference. And here is my younger daughter well wrapped up for the weather that day.

Oli well wrapped up in sub zero temperatures in Zurich this week

Later that day she sent us a photo of her watching a choir in the shape of a human Christmas tree. She said it was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. I would have loved to be there.

Oli in a crowd watching and listening to choir in the shape of a human Christmas tree in Zurich on Tuesday

I had work to do but also set aside some time to prepare and freeze a big batch of "perushki" (Russian meat pies) for Christmas which I know will make Oli happy.

Teresa May, the British Premiere, was also travelling that day. Ironically still able to enjoy "freedom of movement" in Europe - something she wants to do away with, Tuesday saw her travelling to The Hague, Berlin and Brussels, all in one day. She was on a mission to get more concessions for the Brexit deal. Ironically too, just as she arrived to meet Angela Merkel, she got stuck in her car. The door wouldn't open a bit like a sort of sign of the blockade the whole matter of Brexit is undergoing.

Pippa got stuck again too that afternoon with her lead entangled in a a bush.  It happens or happened because we put the harnesses and leads on all three dogs, then put our walking shoes on and meanwhile they wander around the garden. It wouldn't happen again though as from then on we would tie them to a bench before setting off on our walks.

The news that night was not good. It came from Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament. A lone wolf terrorist, 29 year old Cherif Chekatt, shouted "Allahu Akbar" (Allah is great) as he opened fire on people visiting a famous Christmas market in that French town near the border of Germany. He killed 3 people and injured many while the whole town went into lock down, including the Parliament. The bad news was that he got away and became the most searched for man in France and probably Europe. The next evening, the police found him in Strasbourg and cornered him after which he opened fire on them. They then "neutralised" him, a euphemism for shooting him dead. The nightmare in Strasbourg was over but had hit the town hard. 

That night we watched Oli's programme on Graz in Austria. It didn't start until 10.30 - prime time in Spain - far too late for us but being loyal parents we watched it. I still get a thrill watching my younger daughter on TV. You can see the full programme here.

Oli presenting her programme on Graz in Austria

I didn't get a good night's sleep on Tuesday as my cold was keeping me awake. I was also excited about Suzy's arrival. In the end I got up at the unearthly hour of 5.30 in the morning.

And finally "D" day came, Wednesday 12th December, the day of Suzy's arrival. She would be landing in Barajas at 7.10 am and I would be there to pick her up. I left the house at 6.45 in thick fog which made the drive very difficult. There were times when I could hardly see. There was deep traffic too and I hated every minute of the journey. But it was worth the effort because just as I arrived at the pick up point of Terminal 4, there was my beautiful, gorgeous, daughter Suzy. We melted into a hug, despite the cars waiting for me to move on. What a moment. I can't describe what it felt like to be reunited with my first born. If you are a mother or a father, you will understand. She had come dressed in summer clothing and it was only 0.5º c outside which must have been a shock for her. Suzy took the wheel and we drove carefully home. Eladio was waiting for us as were the dogs and it was a mayhem of a welcome but oh so emotional. Here are the two of them hugging as soon as we got home.

Suzy and her Father reunited this week. 

Shortly after she had settled in, it was time to put up the Christmas decorations. Eladio brought up the old tree and the huge box of Christmas things and between the 3 of us we had the job done in about 1.5h. As tradition dictates in this house, we played carols while putting everything up. 

The old tree with some of the presents under it

Later I took a photo with all the lights on and it looked truly magical. Christmas had finally come to our house and brought its magic with it. How happy I felt, looking forward to another family Christmas together.

Christmas came with all its magic on Tuesday, the day Suzy was home. 

We had a wonderful lunch together where Suzy was reunited with her Grandfather. Lucy had made lentils so we all ended up having a vegan meal hahaha.  Later we all had a siesta and then Suzy joined us for our walk. I  clad her in some of my warm walking gear as she only had summer clothes. Once home, we had some quality mother and daughter time together which we spent searching for an outfit in black for the Friday Christmas concert. The former choir members who would be singing in the concert organised by their old school, St. Michael's, had been instructed to wear black. I was quite chuffed that I could offer her such a selection of outfits in black. I mean I am 61 and she is 34, yet she can wear my clothes. I take that as a compliment.

While we were having a great time together, back in the UK, Teresa May was facing the vote of no confidence from her own party the Tories. In the end she maintained her leadership, although wounded and will now battle on to get the Brexit deal through Parliament which I reckon won't be so easy.

It was great to have Suzy join us for our quiet dinner together. Later we both spoke to Oli on the phone from Switzerland. I didn't get a great night's sleep again either, owing mostly to the horrible cold I have.

I was awake at 5.50 on Thursday morning. I had lots to do that morning, mostly work related. Suzy had to work too, giving her online classes to Chinese pupils. Thus I helped her set up a work zone in the dining room and connected a cable to the router for an optimum connection. For the lessons she gives for the Chinese company "Dada", she has to dress up as a teacher, wearing false glasses and even  the company colours, blue. For added attraction, she puts a flower in her hair. Here she is all ready to go.

Suzy after her classes on Thursday

I have to admit, I listened to her from behind closed doors and thought she was very good. Some of her pupils know no English at all and one of them is a 4 year old girl who, thanks to Suzy, can now sing  "twinkle twinkle little star"off by heart .  Thank you my friend Jacky for helping Suzy to get this job which she enjoys and is able to do from any corner of the world.

When Suzy finished her lesson, her classroom was once again transformed back into our dining room and we had lunch together. Suzy approved of all the vegetables that were served.

There was to be no walk in the afternoon. It was freezing and windy outside and I didn't want to risk my cold getting worse and I wasn't really feeling very well. It was much colder, however, in Zurich and Oli posted a photo there where it was snowing. I do so love snow.

Oli in Zurich where it was snowing on Thursday

Suzy worked too in the afternoon, doing assessments of her pupils while I finished watching Season 1 of The Family. It ended on a cliff hanger so now I will have to wait until Season 2 is released to know what happens next.

Soon after, a new guest arrived. Iker, a young man from Vitoria in the north of Spain but who lives and works in Berlin, was coming to stay here for 3 nights. He is doing a degree in nutrition online at the local UEM University and had come to sit some exams. I soon settled him in Suzy's room which I know he loved.  Later our other guest, Javi, from Valencia arrived after we had gone to bed. It's his third or fourth time here and he too would be staying for 3 nights. Once again it's full house this weekend but I have no new reservations until the beginning of January, unless one pops up this week coming. It will be nice to have the house to ourselves, especially for Christmas.

Suzy went out to dinner with her bosom friends Elena and Chati who are sisters. She stayed the night there but would be back to do the food shopping with me on Friday morning. Eladio and I had a frugal but healthy dinner before retiring to our quarters really early at about 8.30 pm. We are watching a series called Dogs of Berlin but it's not really our thing.

Friday came and I would be busy again too. Fridays are my weighing day since I started my diet about a month ago. I was very happy to see the figure on the scale go down once again - that's 2.5kg less so far, thus I shall be fine for Christmas and promise to be good.  I had more work to do for my new customer, the food shopping and also had to start preparations for the meal I would serve on Saturday night when we had guests for dinner, yes the guests that ended up cancelling at the last minute.

Suzy came with me to do the food shopping at Mercadona but first we went on  a few errands and while out enjoyed a cup of coffee together. It was lovely being together and having quality mother ad daughter time again. I can't get enough of it. We were home on time for her to do some work and for me to unload everything and finish making lunch.

After a very short siesta, Suzy and I got ready to go to Madrid. Friday was the day of the 25th anniversary of the girls' school choir, St. Michael's. It's also the 50th anniversary of the school and there will be many celebrations, Friday's concert being one of them. The girls were members of the choir when it was first started by Javier Blanco, a young and dedicated conductor and musician who built a school choir which is probably the best one in Madrid and has won many prizes.   My girls were part of the founding group and I think sung at the very first Christmas concert 25 years ago.  Every Christmas they would sing at the school concert held at the magnificent "Real Basílica San Francisco el Grane". This year, as I mentioned earlier, some of the past pupils would sing in the concert too as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of their old school. It was so unfair that Oli couldn't make it. The evening was not the same without her.But work prevailed and she had to continue shooting for her programme that very day. She was very upset about not being able to be there too. Here she is in the Swiss Alps. No doubt, she loved being there but would have preferred by far to be in Madrid to sing that night for her old school and together with her sister.

Oli in the Swiss Alps on Friday 

Suzy and I left the car at a metro station and took the tube from there to the centre of the city and then walked in the crowded streets of Madrid to get to the church or rather "Basílica". In the old days we parents had to queue outside in the freezing cold while the girls rehearsed but on Friday I was able to get in, with a little persuasion, and go inside before the concert started. Thus, for once, I got a front pew seat. There are 137 members of the choir and of course the past pupils. It was great to see them again, specially Miriam and Tamara.  Miriam was a little girl from Oli's class and they were very good friends. She was often at our house as we lived near the school. Her Father, Don Manuel, was the religion teacher. I hadn't seen her since the girls left school and I was amazed to see this beautiful and poised young woman who is now a teacher of English and mother of 3.

Suzy with Miriam and her father, the girls' ex teacher, Don Manuel

Later I met her children and her smallest, a little girl, who looked just like she did when she was at St. Michael's, tiny and very sweet. While the rehearsal was going on, I had the chance to talk to some of the girls' former teachers whom I hadn't seen for about 17 years ago. Wow, this was a real trip down memory lane and I was experiencing it without Eladio. He had decided not to come although he surprised me later by turning up, although a little late. He did, however, get to see Suzy sing thank goodness. It was lovely to talk to Miss Dorothea, to Don Carlos and even the headmaster, Don Gerardo, as well as Delia, Merche and others. It was funny too to see all the present pupils in the school uniform, so familiar to me. It was such a happy night.

The past pupils had to wear black as  I mentioned earlier and here they are rehearsing as they would sing 3 songs on their own and of course join the general choir in singing most of the rest of the repertoire.

The past pupils rehearsing before the concert began

The church was packed with parents but also friends and even a group of senior citizens from a nearby retirement home. Suzy's friends, Chati, Elena, Monica and Rocío came to listen to the concert. Rocío was at the school although not in the choir and I know it was an emotional evening for her too.

The concert began with All Come All Ye Faithful and ended with Silent Night but in between there were many other songs and  carols, most of them familiar to me from the girls' years with the choirs.

The choir on Friday or part of it. 

I think my favourite song was "Freedom" where I could distinctly hear my daughter's amazing soprano voice come through as she sung with love and emotion, happy to be be back and singing with her old choir.

What a night it was. When the concert finished to loud clapping from a very full Basílica there was lots of time to talk to past teachers and pupils. I didn't want the night to end but it did. Suzy went off with her friends to have dinner and party the night through, while Eladio and I walked the packed streets of the centre of Madrid to the metro station, Tirso de Molina, and back to where we had parked our cars. We were late home but what a happy night it had been. It was pretty cold outside and that was not good for my throat and cough which seemed to be getting worse since my cold came on about a week ago. I do hope it goes by Christmas.

We were home  at about 10.30 and starving. Andy was in the kitchen having his dinner and we joined him. Pippa was missing and Eladio brought her up in his arms from the sofa in our study and we saw that there was something wrong with her front right paw and that she couldn't walk. When we touched it, she winced so I think there might have been a strain as it didn't look broken. I wanted to take her to the vet there and then but my husband said to wait until the next morning.

Thankfully when I got up at 6 am on Saturday morning, she was hobbling around but at least could move. I wanted to take her to the vet but Eladio said it was only a sprain and to wait till Sunday morning. Well, it's Sunday now as I write and she is still lame, so come what may, she will be going to the vet today.

Saturday did not turn out as planned. Suzy had been out on the tiles and was sleeping at a friend's house far from here in an area called Getafe. She actually went to bed at 9 am on Saturday morning! Oli was on on her way home from Zurich and would land at 1.45 and the plan was to have a family lunch together. That day I had planned to go to the English Christmas Market organised by the English church in Madrid but skipped it in the end as there was simply no time. I had to make lunch but also we had friends coming for dinner that night and I had to prepare the meal. The idea was to serve a cold buffet. Just as I had cooked 30 giant prawns and nearly finished making a gigantic potato salad and a a tuna fish spread, I got a message to say our friends couldn't make it for dinner that night, Oh dear I thought, what would I do with all the food and what a pity I hadn't been been able to go to the Christmas market. There was not much I could do. We would just have to have some of the food for dinner and offer the rest of it to Zena and Andy.

We did manage to have a family lunch together, although the girls didn't arrive until nearly 3 pm. Oh but what a joy to see them reunited. There they were hugging each other and I got up to capture the moment on my camera but as I did, Elsa, our clumsy Labrador, brushed past me and I fell over on the floor landing on my knees. It was a hilarious moment. I did, however, get to take another photo and that's the one I have chosen to illustrate this blog; the 2 girls, the 2 sisters, our 2 daughters, Suzy and Oli reunited. It's not often the 4 of us are together and I wanted to make the most of it.

We were all a little shattered - Suzy I suppose most hahaha - but me too as my cold was particularly getting me down  yesterday, but were able to spend some quality time together in Oli's room which Suzy is sharing as we have guests in the other rooms. I think they will be the last guests, apart from Andy, this year. I blocked the Airbnb Calendar for Christmas you see. Later we slept a siesta and amazingly I woke up 2 hours later at 7 pm. I didn't know whether it was night or day and I don't how it happened. Maybe my body just said "you've got to get some sleep" as it's always short of sleep. A  bit drowsy I went downstairs with Pips in my arms to make a cup of tea in the kitchen.  I then switched on all the Christmas lights in the lounges and put some Christmas carols on. That drew everyone downstairs and we sat in the magic until someone said they were hungry. I said, "no problem", there is loads of food, as there was.

Between the 4 of us we made a most delicious dinner with all the food I had prepared for our friends who never came. It felt naughty but nice to be eating "carbs" again but for some reason I wasn't very hungry, probably due to my cold. Eladio, Suzy and Oli said it felt like our traditional Christmas Eve dinner and it did, so in a way, we shall have 2 this year.

There was no routine on Saturday, no walk, due to my cold and I didn't even watch the news. I just wanted to spend time with my girls. In any case I was a bit fed up with Brexit, the Catalan issue and all the negative news we generally live with. So, yes, Saturday did not turn out as planned but was the day the 4 of us were finally reunited after 6 months. What a joy.

And today is Sunday and I am the only one awake as I write, except for the dogs. Our guests from Berlin and Valencia will be leaving this morning, but so shall we. I will be going for a jolly to Valencia with the girls for a day and a night but we will be back to resume our Christmas celebrations tomorrow night.

Now I shall love you but leave you, as it is time to sign off and get on with my day which I am really looking forward to. No doubt, you will hear all about it next Sunday.

Meanwhile, I wish you all a great Sunday and week ahead. Cheers till next time,
Masha

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