Christmas Family Foto

 Even though we won't hand out these Christmas picture cards this year to about 100 people, we decided to keep up the tradition. We have discovered that a family Christmas picture card might be more of a Canadian thing, or North American thing, not so much a Spanish thing. So we are enjoying handing out a few to people here and they are pleasantly surprised.

The background didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. We have been driving and walking past all of these stone fences everywhere we go here. They are much more impressive than the pictures show...isn't that always how it is?

They fascinated me from the start. Many fields here are littered with rocks and stones ~ my farming family would cringe! So I guess they have decided to do like the saying "if the world gives you lemons, make lemonade." The soil here gave rocks, so they made rock fences. Some of them go on for miles and miles. And they are no pushover! Some are even cemented a bit on top, so you know they plan to leave them there for a good long time. They may even have been there for centuries already. And to think they were likely all stacked and piled by hand! I have no idea how long that must have taken.

Anyway, that's just one of my small obsessions shared with you, perhaps made way more interesting by perching our favourite kids on top :)

Now to add a Christmas parallel so that this also becomes our Christmas Greeting post...
We've been reading Jotham's Journey as a family advent thing. It's a story written about a boy living around the time of the First Christmas. I've been reminded of the people of that day, believing there would someday be a Messiah. Some had given up hope; some kept believing; some thought it would be in their lifetime; others long before them had thought it would be in their lifetime. Some kept up their diligent following of their Creator to the best of their ability; others had turned their following into a religion or even into a business; still others into a misguided following of rules instead of following the Creator. The stone fence makes me think of those that remained steady, faithful, diligent, waiting for generations for their Messiah. Some stone fence builders may have started a fence, but their kids or their grandkids kept working at it after they were gone. My hope and prayer this Christmas season is that we will be found faithful and diligent, to continue being faithful and diligent as our families have, and then to teach our children how to be faithful and diligent. Or perhaps you have been chosen to start a long line of faithful and diligent Christ followers.

Because we have an amazing Reason to Celebrate the Season,

we wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

Birthday Week

December is always a busy month for most people, but our lives are further blessed with two December birthdays in our family to boot. Add another three birthdays in extended fams and December is just one party after another. If felt a little weird not to have to plan quite as many parties with extended family, but we continued our own traditions with Braden and Macy.

On their birthday, the birthday person gets to choose the menu for the main meal. Braden chose pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, and corn, with a chocolate ice cream log for dessert.

Macy chose pigs in a blanket, veggies and dip, and an ice cream sandwich tower for dessert.

< We interrupt this blog post for an important Photo-Taking Tip. When you are taking a picture, be sure to check the background - not just the subject of the photo. For example, be sure that your background is not a counter laden with dirty dishes or that your beautiful symmetrical Christmas decorations do not form an unwanted set of mountain goat horns on your lovely birthday girl. >

Sheesh, how did I not see that when I took the picture???????? And that garland looks much better in real life!! Seriously...

Today, we also had a 'Friend Party' for Macy. We are thrilled that there are some English-speaking people in our church and the girls have made some good friends. The cake, however, was another disaster. Have I ranted here before that I just can't seem to bake here? Can't figure out some of the ingredients that are different, some of the different measurements/quantities; can't figure out the temperature, where to put the rack in the oven. BUT, good thing kids will eat anything and you can salvage almost anything with candy.

Before:
I even tried a cake mix this time, so I wouldn't have to fiddle with ingredients and quantities. It was cool, too...not just an "Add water and stir" cake mix. It was the batter already stirred, like a ganache, and I just squished it into the pan. What could go wrong? I'll tell you: the edges were over-done, the middle under-done and it stuck to my "well-greased" pan!

After:

After whipped cream, licorice, M&Ms and much other candy. I was a hero.

P.S. We ate the cake and ice cream and then promptly spent the rest of the afternoon outside, running off the sugar high.
P.P.S. It was plus 10 degrees Celsius and sunny here today ~ NOT bragging...just sayin' :)

Tastes of Home

With Christmas getting closer, and starting to think about what we may be missing, maybe we just needed to be reminded of a few things that are NOT so different here.

Rayna lost another tooth; baby teeth fall out, adult teeth grow in. She puts her old tooth under her pillow and, ever so slightly different here, Ratoncito Perez (a mouse instead of a fairy) takes it and replaces it with money and/or a candy.

Operation Christmas Child ~ like they do every year at home, each of our kids filled a shoebox for a needy child somewhere else in the world. Our church here in Spain collected them last Sunday, just like our church in Canada.

It snowed in La Granja! Just as I was gloating on Facebook that Manitoba was in full winter mode and we were sunny and 15 degrees, Rayna prayed for snow. The very next evening the thermometer fell to minus 2 and there was a thin blanket of the beautiful white stuff on top of the green grass. Our kids were giddy and played in all 5 cm of it for hours. They were getting a little bummed that it was not going to feel like Christmas here without snow. They don't decorate or start the festivities nearly as early here as in North America. There is no giant leap from Halloween to Christmas at midnight on October 31. The Christmas vibe only began towards the latter half of November. But now, in our house, the Christmas tunes are blaring, the decorations are up and Wish Lists are being finalized.

Okay, the final item does not really fit into the theme, but we must tell you about our Once in a Lifetime experience this weekend. The girls, Isabelle and I went to Madrid to the Arteria theatre and saw the live musical production of The Sound of Music!

Yes, it was all in Spanish, but when you know the musical backwards and forwards by heart, and played the part of Brigitta way back in the early 80's, it really doesn't matter what language they are speaking and singing in. It still brought me to tears on more than one occasion. It was part of Macy's magic birthday (turning 10 on the 10th) and she claimed it was "the best thing EVER"!

Almost as exciting as the show, was taking the "fast train" which travelled at 249 km/h and got us to Madrid in less than 28 minutes. And we Manitobans also had our very first ride on a subway. No picture quite did justice to the theatre, but you get the idea. All around, a night to remember!

Appreciation Supper

Okay, check off the list "First Catering Gig in Spain".

Last Friday, Isabelle threw a great Appreciation Evening for 35 people who have volunteered at Bethel this past year. So we decorated and cooked and served. The menu was typical Spanish dishes, some of which were very different than North American dishes. Combine that with our first time doing large quantity deep frying and cooking with gas, and you have just a touch of uncertainty that we could pull this off. But from the reviews, it was an overwhelming success! I was so proud of my family for pitching in together and working hard all day. To free up Isabelle to be the perfect hostess and spend time with her guests, the five of us worked together to prepare and serve the whole meal...and clean it up. (Did I mention these people know how to party? The last person left around 12:30 a.m., and so the dishes only got finished after 2:30!)

Menu

Aperitivos

Bacon-wrapped Dates

Empanadillas

Mini Salami/Ensaladilla Sandwiches

Primera Plata

Melon Con Jamon Serrano

Segunda Plata

Redondo de Vacuno Relleno

(Stuffed Roast Beef)

Patata Fritas (potatoes)

Ensalada

Pan (bread)

Postre

Charlota

Cafe Con Leche

Yeah, those Bacon-wrapped Dates? You can count on tasting those at the very first Small Group Potluck or Family Gathering we have when we get home ~ and probably several times thereafter ~ they were delicioso!! Emery has no use for dates and he ate MANY :)

And yes, that is a huge hunk of melon (very sweet, similar to cantelope or honeydew) draped with thinly sliced cured ham ~ very different, but a very delectable mix of sweet and savory.

Some confessions: the roast came rolled and stuffed with plums...all we had to do was stick it in the oven and slice it. And we did NOT make the dessert. It came from the pastry shop ~ and it was also yummy!

Should have taken more pics of the food, but was just a little busy that day!! Luckily, one of the attendees got some pics of the evening and sent them to us.

Segovia

11 km away from our village of La Granja is the city of Segovia. This is where we go for major grocery shopping, Spanish class and evangelical church.

Segovia's big claim to fame is the Aqueduct. Braden will be the guest blogger for this topic (lovin' this part of homeschooling, where everything we do or see is "school").

The aqueduct was amazing. It was HUGE. It was made by the Romans in about 100 A.D. but no-one knows for sure. It is made of unmortared granite blocks (that means nothing is cementing the blocks together) and is still standing like it did 2000 years ago, though parts of it have been rebuilt. The aqueduct is made to carry water from a spring to a town (or city) so that the people could get “fresh” water from the water basin at the end of the aqueduct. There are a count of 167 arches in total holding the aqueduct up and at its highest point it is 28.5 meters (93.5 feet)  high.  

We also walked by a beautiful cathedral.

And ended our walk with churros con chocolate...a tasty Spanish treat.

Thanks for the perspective, Braden!

November 1st, All Saints Day, is a National Holiday in Spain. One thing Spaniards do on this day is honour their loved ones that have died by decorating their graves and tombs. Family and friends bring flowers, plants and candles, making the cemetery in Segovia a sight to behold.

The niches under the roof, on the wall, are like deep drawers that provide another option to placing the bodies in the ground. The fronts are sealed/cemented closed. This enables many more to be "buried" in a smaller space. Although we carefully and discreetly took pictures to avoid including people, there were many, many people wandering around the cemetery on November 1st, as is the custom.

A Day in Our Life

There is so much we could tell you about what we are experiencing here! My concrete sequential-ness won't really let me just spew detail and tidbit after detail and tidbit. So let's try A Day in Our Life, with just a bit of random rabbit trails.

The scheduling of meals here has been a big change, but we are close to getting it right.

On week days, we wake up around 8 or 8:30. We get dressed, make our beds, have breakfast. Breakfasts are not big meals here ~ often some bread with cheese or jam, juice or milk or cafe leche (for the adults...strong coffee with heated, perhaps frothy, milk ~ YUMMY for Bev). Fruit juices are all in 1L cartons here and there is none of the "fruit beverage" stuff ~ it's all real juice and really good, and not very expensive. For future reference, the Euro is at about $1.35 Cdn. 

Rabbit Trail #1: About 2 blocks away, is our Panaderia, our bakery. Every other morning, Emery or Braden walk down and pick up 4 bars of bread. These are like Canadian baguettes, and the baker now knows Emery and gives him ones right ~ and I mean right ~ out of the oven. He races home and we enjoy deliciously fresh warm bread for breakfast, and sometimes cheese, which is also significantly less expensive here. Cheddar like we are used to is harder to find, but we pay less than a euro per 100g for Brie, Edam, Gouda and all those "fancy" cheeses.

At 9 am, we have family devotions and then Emery is the "teacher". He teaches the girls Math and Science. Braden is doing all of his courses through Manitoba Dept of Ed, so he works on his own, on-line, most of the time. Emery then "goes to work" at 10:00 and I take over teaching the girls English and Social Studies, some Piano and Art, until noon. Then we have tente en pie (snack) ~ usually fruit and a drink.

Sometimes there are jobs Emery and/or I are doing that the kids can help us with from noon to lunch time (2:00 or 2:30). We have raked leaves, cleaned out some storage rooms (took lots of stuff to the dump, much to Bev's delight!), dusted, swept and mopped the 6000 square feet of the Conference Building to get ready for our first retreat last weekend, and then stripped 60 bunks, laundered and remade them after the retreat. We dry most of our own laundry outside, so Macy and Rayna have gotten to be pro at the clothesline thing. We also do not have a dish washer, so the kids look after the dishes and cleaning the kitchen after every meal.

Rabbit Trail #2: The retreat we hosted this past weekend was not very different from our own Church Camps. This was an evangelical Romanian church ~ very friendly people. I spent the weekend in the kitchen learning to cook Spanish food (again, in Spanish as the cooks did not speak English!), and Braden and Emery ran the Dish Pit, among other errands. Macy and Rayna hung out a little with the kids from the retreat and Macy was thrilled that one of the 11-year-old girls spoke some English.

Lunch is our biggest meal of the day. I often prep it in the morning during Emery's teaching time, and then Braden sometimes finishes cooking it. After it's eaten and cleaned up, it's siesta! Sometimes we catch a few zzzzz's, sometimes we do Spanish homework, but everyone lays low and is quiet. We don't even let the kids be loud outside as the town really shuts down. The bigger grocery stores may remain open, but most businesses and offices close from 2:00 until about 4 or 4:30.

Sometimes we do a few more tasks after lunch, but at 4:45, Emery, Braden and I go to Segovia (about 11 km away) for Spanish class. We have class Monday through Thursday for two hours each day. It's Spanish taught in Spanish! The first few days, I had such a headache and was exhausted afterwards. But after two weeks, it's already getting much better.

While we are away, the girls do homework for a hour or so, and then they go to Isabelle's for merienda (another snack - usually hot chocolate and popcorn or a cookie) and often play games (UNO, Old Maid, etc.) until we return.

Supper is a lesser meal around 8 pm; a quick pizza (another cheap thing @ 2 euros each) or a sandwich or soup.

Then it's baths, if needed, and to bed for the kids around 9 or 9:30. Emery and I have been watching Season 1 of The Mentalist that we borrowed before we left, or reading a book out loud to each other (that's what happens when you don't take up precious suitcase space with English books and they are all on the computer...not enough computers to go around).

Fiesta days (Thursday last week and All Saints Day today) and weekends we don't have retreats are when we go out and about. More on those outings and Driving In Spain coming up in future blogs :)

Did I mention we live beside a palace?

If you googled Bethel in La Granja, you may have noticed a rather large property right close to us. That's right, it's a palace. It was the "Summer Home" for the Royals of Spain, as La Granja is a signficantly higher elevation and, therefore, cooler than 40-degrees-Celcius-Madrid in the summer.

We've walked around in the gardens a fair bit already, but on Thursday, we had a day off, one of the many Fiesta days. So we went and toured the inside of the palace and then another one, the Hunting Palace, just a few minutes away in Rio Frio.

We took lots of pics outside, but, unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pics inside either of the palaces. So we bought some souvenir picture books and took pictures of the pictures in the book to post (still with me?).

So here we are outside our back door...we walk up our street...around the corner...

 

and there it is!

Some of the gardens are fancy like this...and there are lots of fancy fountains that for some reason I didn't get a picture of yet...

 

but then other parts of the gardens are left natural like this...

 

When you get to the furthest point away from the palace, this is the view:

And this is us (yes, the flowers are still blooming here):

 

And here are some from the inside (from a book, remember?...no rules were broken!)

 

Almost every ceiling was elaborately painted.

This is the church connected to the palace.










This is the much less elaborate Hunting Palace...that's right ~ out in the boonies where the Royals stayed when they wanted to hunt deer, foul, foxes, rabbits, etc.

However, the inside was anything but rustic...almost as elaborate as the Summer Home, but without the humongous tapestries and murals on the ceilings:

 

All in all, a great field trip day!