1 month to Christmas? But the sun's shining!

In previous years by the 25th November pre-christmas hysteria has usually set in. The shops are getting manic, the efforts to arrange all the dinners, parties, events are well in hand and the pressie shopping is well under way to try and have it done before the total chaos that is December. I don't enjoy the run up to Christmas in the UK and it was always going to be interesting having our first Christmas in Spain.

The internet has played a big part in my Christmas arrangements over the last few years but this year it has really come into it's own. But it just doesn't seem like it's only a month to Christmas. Here, the shops are only just starting to get decorations, gift packs etc in the shops. Upto last week you didn't see anything related to Christmas anywhere. We do get UK TV here so we are constantly seeing the Marks & Spencer Christmas advert or Asda's but when you look outside and the sun is shining, the sky is perfectly blue and you are still walking around in T-shirts, Christmas seems a million miles away.

Terreros will be incredibly quiet over Christmas, there are several people we know who will be going back to the UK for Christmas and New Year, another large group are going up to Benidorm for several days over Christmas and then there's the ones who are left. A few of the local restaurants do a Christmas dinner and we are going to our local Bistro on Christmas day.

The main celebration in Spain is on the 6th January, the Three Kings Day, when gifts are normally exchanged in Spain - so, we'll be having 2 christmas's - one to acknowledge our British heritage and another to celebrate the traditions of our new home - well, why stop at one pressie when you can have 2?

New Year is well celebrated in Spain and it is traditional to wear red underwear - but I'm not sure who checks whether you are ..... or not!

On January 5th at night we will leave one pair of shoes in the sitting room by the Nativity scene (Nacimiento) together with some liquor for the Kings and some cookies for the camels. This is actually a really nice event to look forward to as the 5th January would have been Dad's birthday and this will always give us something special to use to celebrate his birthday.

Apparently, I need to find a recipe for a cake called the Roscón de Reyes, which is traditionally eaten on the 6th January, although I'm sure our local shops will sell them. There should also be festivals and processions locally so whilst the 6th Jan in the UK signifies the end of Christmas, here it is still very much being celebrated.

This link gives a good overview of the festive season over here, I'm really looking forward to it and, for once, I won't be fed up of the idea of Christmas by the time it actually arrives.

http://www.idealspain.com/pages/Information/ChristmasInSpain.htm