Memories of Christmases past

Christmas Eve is here (in the U.S) for some of you it's Christmas day so Merry Christmas!

A lot of places in the world celebrate Christmas, even if the family's religious background is not Christian, it is universally a time to spend with family or another loved one. In Japan some families will buy strawberry cakes, set up a tree and celebrate Christmas in a similar fashion to how they do in the states. In Spain, Christmas day is still celebrated, only in that part of the world Santa clause climbs in through the window and not the chimney. Most houses out there are not built that way so naturally being the diverse expert that Santa is he accommodates when delivering presents. There is a holiday known as 3 Kings, which is celebrated on January 5th symbolizes the three wisemen who paid homage to baby Jesus and his family, these wisemen are considered more popular then Santa Claus! Presents and treats can be found everywhere around the house, and processions are commenced on January 5th with elaborate parades, where children receive even more treats from the passing floats. I never witnessed one of these celebrations due to me being out of the country each time or working during the holidays but from what I heard from friends it was a site to be seen. (it was also a pain to wander through the town during these holidays, due to the MASSIVE crowds. There are about 8 Spanish holidays in December alone, the holidays were always a pain at work due to the amount of local nationals we had to hire, lovely people but during December we didn't see them much so naturally we had to pick up the slack, unfortunately when Americans are in foreign countries this is where it is hard to adjust because the big people in charge don't believe in that sort of cultural acclamation. I had a good laugh at the people who continually ask me "oh so did you get to siesta in the middle of the day?" NO! Never, but they Spanish workers left around 1500 (3 o'clock pm), for the day during the summer months, I sometimes stayed until 1700.

Me being silly in front of the completed tree.

 My first Christmas in Spain was spent with my ex Princess in Italy, it was a very modest and simple Christmas but one I will never forget and cherish. We bought a tree, ornaments, some of which I special ordered ahead of time on the internet and all miraculously came in on time to use, and presents, I did not make very much money but I bought a variety of gifts and Christmas was enjoyed and celebrated in a lovely hotel room. We even put up Christmas lights and lined the hotel dressers with lights and it lit up the room beautifully. The tree was against a large window which glowed from the window when we would walk outside and bask at how crazy of a idea it was to drag all our luggage and presents to this hotel, but we felt so pleased that we pulled it off. We even baked Christmas cookies, Princess had hauled her tiny oven and we baked cookies and had frosting. On Christmas eve we ventured out onto the streets in Naples to find the main Duomo (cathedral building) of the city, it was pouring rain pretty bad out that night, and we did find the building at one point, a friend of hers had accompanied us but like most cities in Europe there was no place to park! The area was too confusing for him to leave us off and find another space, we probably would've never seen him again. So we found another church, it was very old but beautiful this place had been around since the 17th century. It looked so dark and gloomy, several people looked up and eyed our bunch with curiosity, we were obviously foreigners, it looked like a "regular goer" kind of church and we had never been seen before. We sat in the middle and just admired the dark paintings on the walls, since the mass was in Italian, but when songs were sang the whole church lit up, revealing Christmas lights aligning the different columns of the church, there was even dancing, girls were dressed in white robes, wore wreathes around their heads, held hands and spun each other in circles. There was something so magical and unexpecting about that. I had never seen dancing during a Catholic mass! A lot of Christmas songs were familiar to our ears, so we sang some of the songs in English along with the Italian lyrics, at one point I got funny and made fun of one of them, Princess was serious when it came to sitting still in church and scolded me like a child, so I obeyed lol.

To be even more funny when Princess opened up her presents on Christmas morning I had gotten her a printer as one and wrapped up a pile of printer paper, to hint of what was to come, she looked at me wild eyed then gave me a big smile and in her most sweet sarcastic voice chimed "I love it!" Princess always knew exactly what to say....It is times like that, that I miss not being single, but I still have my family and I am grateful to be home, but I am also grateful to say that I made Christmas modest but special for someone, Princess made it very special for me as well, several gifts I still use, like a quilt with sunflowers, I love sunflowers! A Marc Jacobs perfume, which unfortunately a moto TSA agent opened it and dumped out it's entire contents, so now it only sprays air.....boooo.....and a Jewelry box made in Italy or Switzerland, plays music and is just so beautiful to look at, so thanks for the memories Princess, I hope I can do that again for someone one day...

Today will consist of what I assume to be last minute Christmas shopping hopefully I find that extra special gift, already bought one big thing but I know somehow i'll find another special item to get one of those classical reactions similar to Princess's. I live for that stuff! Merry Christmas eve everyone! There is a subscribe button at the bottom if you would like to hear more from me!