Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo

Before I get into what will be my last Ramble of 2024, I have to just say that since updating to the new upgraded ‘Paid Plan’ very recently, I have noticed, from my site Admin Page, that there has been an unexpected surge in the number of readers and, other than the more usual regulars (UK and Spain), there are many more recently from not only the USA and Canada, but also from Other European, Asian and Middle Eastern Countries, so just a quick hello and thank you for taking the time and patience to read them. For those of you that are new to my ‘Rambles’, you may also be interested in reading my previous ‘Ramblings’ and so get the full picture of how are lives have changed over the last eleven year’s, below I will provide a screenshot which provides a full list, with links, to those sites (These are in chronological order of the previous publications, commencing from the bottom, the start of our adventures, to the current day at the top)

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So here we are yet again, almost at the end of yet another year, and like every year, I ask myself the same question, ‘Why do they seem to come around so quickly ?’ especially when we really, and more than ever now that we are retired, just need each passing year to just slow down a bit 🤷‍♂️ However, it does appear especially strange living here in Spain, after all this is the land of Mañana, Mañana, where the wheels of almost everything generally turn at a considerably slower pace, whether that be just the everyday pace of life here, which is certainly much slower and very relaxing, or the official bureaucratic processes, when a day can sometimes feel like a week, a week can feel more like a month and…….. well what can I say, especially when you are urgently waiting for officialdom to do something, well a week can then feel almost as long as a month, but then, and almost without warning, the end of the year comes around smack on time, so how can that be 🤷‍♂️

The festive season itself does feel a little different here, for us at least, for although we have spent several Christmas and New Year periods here in Spain at what was then just our ‘Bolt Hole’, where we would see the shops, and the streets, adorned with Christmas decorations and light’s, the Spanish TV and Radio Station channels full of festive advertisements, but now, living here in what is nearly all year sunshine, it just does not feel right somehow, walking along the seafront promenade in lovely warm sunshine singing 🎶 It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas 🎶 when in truth it doesn’t, and we really just feel like singing 🎶 It still feels like we’re on an extended Summer Holiday 🎶

So, as I say, this will not be our first festive period spent here in Spain, but it is our second, as newish ‘Permanent Residents’, not that that means that it will be any different to any of the other ten festive periods that we have spent here, but it certainly still does feel different to the Christmas periods back in the UK. I can still remember the days when I used to be travelling in the car on my way home from somewhere or other, work or shopping, although only around 4:30pm and already dark, as I drove down the streets the festive illuminations would all be alight, glowing brightly, shops and houses on both sides of the road would have twinkling coloured lights in the windows, tinsel and decorative baubles and often, through open curtains in some of the houses, you could see the lavishly decorated Christmas tree’s, even the outside front garden areas were often lit up with light’s that traced the outline of the house, or trees were adorned with multi-coloured lights, then it all felt very festive and people went to a lot of trouble to mark this special annual festive period, some were even quite competitive in wanting to have a better display than their neighbours, it was a wonderful sight. I wonder if that will be true now, what with the hikes in the costs of Electricity, although this is the time of year when such matters I suppose are put to one side. In contrast with the darkness and the festive illuminations, would be the mandatory white frost which covers pavements and lawns, even on the leafless branches of tree’s where the thin finger like protrusions would be covered in hoar frost, pedestrians and shoppers would be rushing home to a warm crackling fire in the hearth, or more modern day log burners or homes with gas centrally heated radiators, they would walk at a hastened pace, which would see them breathing out funnels of white breath as they huddled, tensed up, between several layers of clothing. On Christmas Eve we would all pray that it would snow overnight to just complete the picture of a Winter Wonderland on Christmas Day morning although, quite often I have to say, it failed to materialise on the one day of the year that you really wanted it to, why I wonder can you not count on anything to be reliable in today’s modern world 🤷‍♂️

Now, putting the weather aside, Christmas is still Christmas here in Spain and their are some similarities with the festive periods elsewhere, the Christmas Lights, Christmas Carols, Christmas songs on the radio (In both Spanish and English), associated Festive food and yes, even the traditional illuminated and decorated Christmas tree’s, although in towns they are not generally trees but large triangles that are all lit up and of course, if you live in the much more Northern and cooler parts of the country, the frost and the snow is quite common. However, down here in the South Eastern part of the Costa del Sol, in our little corner of Andalusia, if we are lucky, we can sometimes look out of our windows and see the snow on the mountain peaks, although, coming to think of it, that hasn’t happened in the last couple of year’s or so, must be something to do with that Global Warming stuff that people keep going on about 🤔 A few year’s ago now, Malaga City residents did have snow on their beach, but even that didn’t reach down as far as us, so the snowmen here have to be constructed on the beaches and are built from sand, but the bonus is that they don’t melt like the white one’s do, so they tend to last a little bit longer 🤭

Now the night’s get darker here a bit earlier too, but not until around 6:30pm, that is when the sun sets and darkness begins to fall. The festive illuminations are the only real reminder to us that it is getting near to Christmas, some individual houses and apartments do have their Christmas decorations on display, but not as many as in the UK, with their twinkling multi-coloured lights and even some of the Cafe/Bars and Restaurants decorate their internal areas with a Christmas theme, and within the main ‘Expat’ community areas, they advertise their Christmas and New Year Parties and Menu’s, all of which have to be pre-booked in advance of course, the more popular one’s having been fully booked since before the end of September. Shazza and I have of course already pre-booked our Christmas Day Dinner, at a Spanish run establishment in the Marina, well we didn’t want to miss out did we, although we knew beforehand that the majority of voices that we will hear at that festive dinner will be either English, German, Dutch, Belgian or Scandinavian, for the Spanish themselves actually traditionally eat their Christmas Dinner on Christmas Eve, just before, or just after, attending Christmas Mass.

So okay, apart from the festive decorations, Christmas Tree’s and different day and time for eating Christmas Dinner, is there anything very much different about the festive period here in Spain, as opposed to anywhere else 🤔 There are 15 different ‘Regions’ within ‘mainland’ Spain, and they are divided into 50 different ‘Provinces’, and some of them have their own unique local traditions and Christmas celebrations, although, as I am not a ‘Lonely Planet’ travel guide, I am not going to go through and list each one of them, that after all is what ‘Mr Google’ is for, if any of you are that inquisitive 😉

Traditionally, in Spain, Christmas Tree’s and decorations are put up on December 8th. I say traditionally because like everywhere in the world these days, traditions have begun to change over the year’s, some people now put their trees up earlier, or even later, and here too in Spain the same is happening, many larger Cities and Towns (Malaga, Seville, Cadiz, Valencia, Barcelona) already had their Christmas Trees, and street lights, out and ‘officially’ had their switching on ceremonies well before the 8th December. Spain is primarily a Roman Catholic country and still have lots of Religious Festivals, many just before or just after Christmas, however, the younger generation whilst they enjoy the ‘Public Holidays’ that go with them, fewer and fewer actively now attend church. Christmas street markets are in abundance too, with wine and beer or Vermut being the regular star performers, not many warming mugs of ‘Gluhweine’ or Bratwurst in finger rolls here though 😢 I like a nice roasted bratty and fried onions in a bun and a mug of warm gluhweine to wash it down, to make it feel like Christmas has arrived.

Spain has its own traditions , the first being the ‘El Gordo’ Lottery, literally meaning the ‘Fat One’ with huge cash prizes of more than €2 Billion. Now this is different to the Euromillions Lottery as the ‘El Gordo’ has been held here in Spain since 1812. In 2011 an entire town shared a single ticket and split the share of the €950 million prize 😲 I was tempted to buy a few tickets myself to get in on the act but managed to restrain myself, €25 for just 1/10th of a share and the odds of winning 🤷‍♂️ I think my biggest fear was that if we did win, Shazza would want to go and buy a homestead in the mountains somewhere and start her self-sufficiency lifestyle, at my age that sounds a bit too much like hard work, so let the youngsters do it, I am quite happy to buy what we need from the supermarkets and fruiterias 🤭

As is traditional in the UK, we have both a Christmas Cake, and after Christmas Dinner, a Christmas pudding usually filled with dried fruit and nuts, possibly a little bit of a kick with the addition of some ‘Alcohol’, normally Brandy, but inside their is usually a coin hidden and everyone waits with eager anticipation to see who is the lucky recipient of the Christmas treasure, being careful of course not to choke on it 😲 I am surprised these days with all of the health and safety restrictions that this aspect has not been prohibited 🤭 The Christmas cake is slightly different and is a traditional style cake but covered with Marzipan (Almond Paste) and decorated with white icing with some sort of festive decorations, a sprig of holly with berries, on top, again there are a whole host of recipes and variations.

Now if you have children, cover their eyes for this next bit for, here in Spain, it is not Santa Claus that bring children their gifts on Christmas Eve, although they do open some, instead it is the ‘Three Kings’ that deliver the presents, but not until 5th January, when their are parades in the streets and the ‘Three Kings’ from their carriages throw sweet treats out amongst the crowds, to adults and children alike, and yes we too have attended such parades in previous years, although we didn’t keep the goodies we managed to catch, or that bounced off our heads, we handed them to the nearest children, it would have been rude not to.

Now here in Spain, whilst they may not have the Christmas Pudding, as we know it, they do have a traditional cake, only it is not a Christmas Cake but a ‘Three Kings Cake’ or, as it is known here, a ‘Roscon de Reyes’ and it too comes in a variety of forms. Inside is hidden a ‘Fava Bean’ and a small ‘Figurine’, whoever gets the figurine is said to be blessed with good luck for the coming year, but the person who gets the bean has to pay for next years ‘Roscon de Reyes, although in our home it doesn’t matter whether I find the figurine or the bean, I always end up buying the cake 🤔 Our favourite is the one filled with cream, although this is the speciality version, but they come in numerous varieties and, as we do not normally eat a lot, if any, puddings or cakes these days, this really does make it a special time of the year, a period when the bathroom scales conveniently get lost for several days 😂

Another Christmas tradition in Spain is the sights of all the ‘Poinsettia’ plants, they are everywhere. Although it originated in Mexico where the ‘Aztec’s’ revered it for not only its beauty, but medicinal properties, after the Spanish Conquests the Franciscan Monks introduced it into Europe where it became a symbol of Christmas.

The Spanish also have their own unique favourite Christmas sweet treats, from the vast flavoured assortments of ‘Turron’ (Nougat) and ‘Polverons’ and ‘Mantecados’. Although all of these can be purchased these days all year round, they are particularly popular over Christmas and the confectioners windows and supermarket shelves are full with them. The ‘Polveron’ is a heavy, soft and very crumbly Spanish shortbread, mostly produced in the Province of Andalusia where there are 70 factories producing them, I have to say though, they are more of a ‘required taste’, probably because they are more doughy in texture whereas Mantecados are more of a ‘Cookie’ type biscuit.

Now you may be wondering whether to spend Christmas here in Spain, if you prefer your more traditional festive cuisine. Let me just say that, especially in the more ‘touristy’ areas, there are plenty of Supermarkets that cater for lots of International visitor’s. You can still get your Turkey joints or Duck, Sage & Onion Stuffing, Cranberry Sauce, Christmas Pudding, Brandy Butter etc. etc. etc. As well as the vast choice of Spanish Supermarkets there are also ALDI, LIDL, Carrefour, ELeqlerc, Marks & Spencer’s and just across the frontier, in Gibraltar, there is also a Morrisons. Their are also English Butcher’s, as well as the Spanish one’s, where you can get your joints of Beef, Lamb and Pork and near us their is even a Scandinavian produce store. All year round there are restaurants that serve a traditional English Roast Dinner and at Christmas they do the traditional Christmas Turkey Dinner. However, whilst the Spanish may not eat their Beef, Pork or Lamb the way that we are used to in the UK, they do still eat it so these ‘red meats’ are widely available. But I would suggest that if you are in Spain then why not go native and sample their own style of food, it’s all part of the cultural experience just like trying out the regional variations of ‘Tapas’ 🤷‍♂️

It would be wrong of me not to mention ‘Ham’ and ‘Chorizo’ the Spanish eat lots of it and both come in a wide variety of ‘cuts’ and ‘flavours’, these again are eaten all year round and widely available in any Supermarket or ‘Carcinaria’ (Butcher). But it is Christmas when, instead of seeing the small packets of ham being purchased, the Spanish purchase whole legs of it. The ‘Iberico’ and ‘Serrano’ hams are renowned to be the best, coming from the free-ranging acorn fed pigs, but it also comes in different grades, just like the smaller packages, the best have the ‘Black’ labels and the next best are the ‘Red’ labels, although there are other lower grades, the difference of course being the price.

So there we go, hopefully I have got your gastric juices flowing now and, even if it isn’t a white frosty Christmas here, like we were used to, and it isn’t Santa Claus that brings the presents on Christmas Eve night and so we have to wait a little longer until the 5th January, when it is the three Kings that deliver them, this is Spain and they have their own way of celebrating it, so yes, Christmas is maybe a little different than what we are used to, but to coin a phrase from Star Trek, ‘Just Not As We Know It’.

Okay, so you may be thinking, from my introductory ramblings, then reading my later exultations of Christmas in Spain, that I am being rather confusingly contradictory 🤷‍♂️ I guess it comes across that way so, to hopefully make the picture a little more clearer, from our perspective, we do not live in the town and rarely go in at night when all the street festive illuminations are lit up, so when we do go in on our daily walks and may occasionally stop for lunch, this is what we see, and remember, we are in shorts and tee-shirts, the sun is shining, it is very warm, the sky and sea are both very blue………………..

So you may understand why it doesn’t quite feel like Christmas here, perhaps we should come out at night and see the illuminations 🤔 But do not interpret this as me complaining, far from it. We have recently taken a short trip to a local town up in the ‘snow free’ mountains to visit a small Christmas market and we are going on a shopping trip in the next few days to do the last bit of our Christmas food shopping. Lots of people we don’t know who we pass in the streets, or sat at tables near us in a Cafe or Restaraunt are already wishing us ‘Feliz Navidad’ (Happy Christmas), we of course return the gesture and sometimes tag on ‘y Prospero Ano Nuevo’ (and Prosperous New Year) or, as that can be a bit of a mouthful everytime, just ‘Igualmente’ (The same to you). On Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve, Shazza is preparing us ‘Tapas’ style meals, both hot and cold in a buffet style and, we have a selection of both Spanish and British savoury and sweet festive nibbles, we will wait until after Christmas to purchase our ‘Roscon de Reyes’, as that needs to be kept refrigerated and then eaten within a couple of days, so we will of course be entering into the spirit of Christmas, but just not the weeks in advance as we would have done previously in the UK, which actually is a bit of a blessing. We will of course miss watching the children, and grandchildren, all excited when seeing the presents under the tree and then opening them, but we won’t miss the clearing up of all the discarded cardboard and wrapping paper afterwards and I am sure that Shazza will not miss the hours of toil in the kitchen.

So living in another country, far away from our family, and friends, at this festive time of year can of course provide for some mixed emotions, but isn’t that what Video calls are for ? thank god for modern technology that’s what I say, well sometimes at least 🤔😂 At the end of the day it is the life we chose, and it is something that Shazza and I talk about, often at this time of year for some strange reason 😉 But, in the end we both come away with the same opinion and that is that we don’t have any regrets on any aspect of our lives together so far, and we just hope that we can continue to keep healthy enough to keep having our adventures in the coming year, and well beyond.

Finally, (‘Thank god for that’, I hear you cry, yes I can hear you 🤭). Wherever you may be in this often chaotic world of our’s, stay safe, stay warm, stay dry and a massive heartfelt thank you from me, for continuing to read my rambles. Shazza and I wish you all, wherever you may be……………………

Hasta Luego mi Amigos, “La Vida Es Buena”