Epiphany Children's Parade

The Spanish do not celebrate Christmas the same way the US does. They have a small celebration on Christmas Eve for Jesus's birth but their BIG celebration is actually Epiphany on January 6th. This day commemorates when the three kings visited Jesus and gave him gifts. The kings are the equivalent of our Santa Claus for kids. There are kings at the mall that kids can go and ask for presents from. They write letters to the kings asking for toys and they leave out food for the kings who come at night on Epiphany Eve to deliver presents to the kids while they are sleeping. See the connection?
On Epiphany Eve, the local towns hold parades where the kings go through the streets on floats throwing toys and candy to the kids. And by throwing I mean "baseball pitching" hard candy at you so that you leave with welts on your head. Once the three kings are seen in town, the families must go home and get a good night sleep so that the kings know to visit your house (again Santa Claus-ish). We decided to hit the parade and see what it was like for another culture.


Awaiting the parade to start with our neighbors and good friends, the Olsen's. Yes, we are in the middle of the street. Heaven forbid both sides of the street stay on their respective curbs. Nope. Have to get up close to the action and get as much candy as you can.


Justin got up to higher ground to show the crowds of people waiting for the parade. You can still see us in the middle of the street.


The "marching" band. Not much marching going on with this bunch. A lot of meandering, talking and smoking with the occasional drum beat. They need a lesson from USC.


The first float taken from O's perspective. What does Sponge Bob have to do with Epiphany? Absolutely nothing. But the girls did throw candy and streamers which was nice.


Another float with girls done up. Have no idea what they represent but they did look so pretty.


The mule bringing the presents for Jesus.


And could not resist including one of the kings. This is Balthazar. He was the last and best float as he threw candy and toys down. I tried to catch this ball but some teenage kid beat me to it. As Balthazar was darker skinned than the other 2 kings, they simply painted him black. Yes. He has black paint on him. No. This would NEVER fly in the US.

Aunt Sarah's 40th Birthday

Justin's sister was here in Spain still visiting when her big 4-0 birthday hit. We celebrated in style! A nice homemade meatloaf and cake made by her mom to celebrate the big day. 3 canisters of frosting were requested for the cake so we slathered them on and proceeded to have stomach aches for the rest of the night. Olivia helped Mary Ann make the cake. That's why there is a ginormous glob of sprinkles in the middle of it. It was a fun celebration and we were glad to share this birthday with her. On her actual day, we went out to a fantastic Spanish meal at a local restaurant.


The monstrosity, I mean, beautiful cake.


Singing "Happy Birthday" to Aunt Sarah.


Olivia helped Aunt Sarah blow out the candles since she gets out of breath easier at her new age. Hehe.

Christmas 2010

Justin's sister, brother-in-law, and other niece arrived on Christmas Eve in time to take a nap, go to mass, eat a Spanish tapas meal of cheese, dip, bread, olives and wine and then start opening the family presents. It was so nice to have the family together to celebrate! And O was a champ at mass. Other kids were taken out for misbehaving but she sat there and took all the singing and praying in. We could not have asked for a better Christmas this year.

Christmas Eve. Squatty, our tree, is ready for all the presents to be opened. I am happy to report that he is alive and well and no ornaments were lost this year.


Churched up, well fed and now ready to open some presents.


Olivia, the youngest, gets to open her present first. Let's just say she opened more presents than anyone.



Sitting patiently on the couch with Aunt Sarah and Mary Ann as others get their turn to open presents.


Anna gave her cousin, Baby Dos, a Rome soccer jersey. Based on the size of my belly, it looks like it already fits!


Christmas morning. Santa has arrived!


O's #1 present??? A Belle Barbie. She woke up asking if Santa had brought it for her.


O immediately started playing with her Disney Princess dolls.


The start of Christmas dinner. Props to myself and Justin again for cooking a turkey and all the fixings with absolutely no phone call before to my parents asking for help and reassurance.

Polar Express

We have been fortunate to have Justin's family staying with us for the holidays. Justin's father passed away recently so this was a time that the family needed to come together and celebrate the holidays and get through the sadness that his passing created. That means that I have been a major slacker when it came to the blog. Mucho posts to come as we have been able to celebrate events leading up to Christmas, Christmas itself and some trips we all have been able to take together in the last week.

The week before Christmas, Justin's niece, who is studying in Rome for the year, and mom arrived. We had some events on base that they could join us for. One such event was the Polar Express at the base elementary school. This event held for the kids offered rides on the local train from Rota (decorated to be like the Polar Express), a dance recital for the kids taking dance on base, music, crafts and fun treats for the kids. Needless to say, Olivia loved every minute. Especially the ride around base housing on the train.


Waiting to get on the Polar Express. It was unseasonably cold this night so we all had to dress a little warmer for the ride as the sun had already set.


Waiting for the all clear to get on. We got on the first ride to beat the rush. Wise move because there was a huge line waiting when we got back.


O and I as the Polar Express starts its loop around housing to look at the Christmas decorations.


Who else has joined us for the ride???? Liv loved turning around and waving to him.


Liv is mesmerized watching the Christmas dance recital. Here's hoping she loves doing it as much as she loves watching it.