...Christmas!!! Finally! It's Christmas time in Madrid and I could not be happier. Christmas is and has always been my favorite time of the year, because it really is The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. And this year, I am even more excited than I usually am, because this year I'm going home! Living away from my family in Chicago is something I've done since I was five years old, so for me, December comes, school lets out, and I go to Chicago for the holidays. It's normal, it's my tradition, and I love it. But last year, I didn't go home. Mom came to visit me, and we had a great time, but we both decided that it just wasn't the same... so away I go!

To begin the holiday season, at work we celebrate Día del Maestro, and in our school we celebrate in style. Our lunch began just after school ended last Monday and we all got to eat lots of delicious Spanish foods while we talked and discussed our patron saint of teachers. Like last year, we are again playing Amigo Invisible, or Secret Santa. In this lunch we drew names, and the game starts tomorrow! This is one of the things I will miss the most about this school. There's such a buen rollo there. We all get along and enjoy staying at school until five or six in the afternoon just to hang out and have a good time.

On Sunday, a few of my friends came to my house for an early Christmas party. We also played Secret Santa - my friend Emma got me a few key pieces that every good hostess should have: a cute tray, napkins, tea, and a cute cupcake-shaped sugar dish. Everybody brought something to eat (I made mulled wine and spinach cups), we exchanged gifts, and watched Christmas movies all night. I think being of the Friends generation, I always imagined this was what "growing up" would be like.

Now there are only fifteen days between me and heading home for Christmas. How am I handling the wait? Well, on Thursday I'll head to Amsterdam for a long weekend (thank you, Spanish holidays) and then I'll come back to a week of work, a weekend of shopping for presents, and a trip or two on the Navibus, I'm sure. To help you guys aguantar until Christmas, check out my video from last year's lights and fireworks:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVzCliL1Pwk&w=560&h=315]

...and some photos from this year's Christmas decorations:

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Felices Fiestas!

I know this post is long overdue, so I will try to do a summary. Mom came to visit over Christmas and we had a great time! Rather than trying to travel and see lots of Spain, we stayed in Madrid, shopping, eating, cooking, and seeing the sights for most of the time she was here. We spent one day in a mountain town nearby called Cercedilla, where everything was closed because apparently small towns don't function in the last week of December, and another day in Torrejón de Ardoz, where I work, to see Parque Europa and spend the day with Inma, one of the English teachers. She showed us around Torrejón all day and took us out for a delicious lunch before we came back to Madrid, exhausted.

For New Year's Eve, we went to Puerta del Sol to take part in one of the New Year's traditions--eating twelve grapes at midnight. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any seedless grapes so I only got through half of them! We were among the huge crowds and later went to a bar nearby for some drinks to ring in the new year.

So, please to enjoy some photos from her visit!

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Let me explain

No, there is too much. Let me sum up.