Tis the season!!

Being away from home for an extended period has created some unique issues that we have had to deal with. We know that things are different over here, and there are many things we have had to forgoe for the year, but some traditions we are still trying to maintain. For example, during the in-laws visit, it was Thanksgiving (Canadian). We didn't have any plans to celebrate it, as that was one of the things we knew was not celebrated here. We had resigned ourselves to a year without the traditional feast. Fortunately, Ruth decided she could put on a feast for everyone here, so lo and behold, Thanksgiving dinner served in Spain.

As most of you know, every year Kristin and Ruth spend countless hours making and assembling Ginger Bread houses back home. This was another of the things we figured we would have to give up for a year. That was until mid November rolled around, and Kristin decided it might be another fun activity for everyone over here. Unfortunately, many of the ingredients are not readily available here. Kristin looked up some recipes that used ingredients that we could find here, but she decided that it just wouldn't be right to mess with tradition.   Now I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I had started shopping using Amazon here. The challenge of finding stuff on a Spanish website, and then arranging delivery to a house that isn't listed on any map, nor does it have an official street name, makes for good practical use of our limited Spanish. Now factor in trying to find ingredients aren't very well know in Spain, and then trying to get it all delivered in a timely manner makes for extra special Ginger Bread houses. We did manage to get all the stuff needed to make them, now we just need to find time in our hectic schedule to make them. We don't know if we should skip diving, hiking, biking, coffee, paddling, etc, in order to take a day and make/assemble the houses. Also, we have a 4 day weekend coming up, and we want to drive down to Gibraltar and spend a day or two in Morroco. Our time is starting to become limited. I do know however, that if anyone can do it, it's Kristin, and she will still manage to get in all the other activities as well.

With GB house, it reminds us that Xmas is also just around the corner. The kids asked the other day if we were going to decorate a tree this year. This is another of those issue that we have run across. How do you decorate a tree with no decoration, and no tree? I guess the kids will have to be creative. Also, when it's sunny, and the temp is in the high teens, is it really xmas? We have to find out if the Reindeer can even fly when it's this hot. All these first world problems we have to deal with!!

As always, cheers.

Shane