We Did See Christmas, After All

Hello,
It's been soooo long.....are you sick of hearing that yet?? No excuse, once again. Well, it's been a busy fall. We've been trucking along in language study, school, etc...

Well, the Christmas "season" is a pretty big bummer here, as you might imagine. Most people don't even know what Christmas is or what we're celebrating. This does provide opportunities to share a little about our beliefs. We had some of those opportunities this season, and although we haven't seen any obvious changes in anyone we've talked to, we can only pray that some seeds were planted.

Because there is no sign of Christmas where we live (and some of us crave the "festiveness" of the holiday), we decided to take the family into Spain where we could at least see some Christmas decorations. We found some REALLY cheap tickets to Madrid, so away we went. We had an incredible time with some friends that went with us.

So below are some pics of our trip to Spain and our Christmas morning....enjoy!!!


The Christmas lights in Madrid...they were incredible...they were everywhere...and pictures don't do them justice.

Just a pretty building...not sure what it was...



More lights and a general picture of what Madrid looked like. It was a very beautiful city.



Here is the gang! The girls are here with their "bff".
Isn't he a cutie!



This was a HUGE toy display that was on top of the awning of a store in Madrid. Every few minutes it would start moving, tell a story and play music!



Here is Carys on a random carousel in one of the squares.



Pic of the goods...before impact... (it looks so bare here because we didn't have any of our shipped gifts yet!) Thanks to those of you who sent stuff! It is like Christmas all over again every time a package arrives....
I think we've received 4 of 15 sent so far...



Here they come....



Carys enjoying her new haul....



Playing with the new toys...



Girls and their bears (and every doll they own).



She wore herself out....she sleeps on that bear
every night now....



This is just a random video of Sophia dancing...she's our entertainment because of our lack of a television.



This is a picture I took of the view from one of our balconies...the mountains have made their appearance....so beautiful!




Here is Sophia giving you a bit of a cultural lesson....she eats Tajine (our well-known local dish) like a pro.




Here we are in front of a fountain in Madrid. Happy New Year to you all!!