Espiritu de Navidad

Last year at Christmas I was able to have the best Christmas present ever, seeing my family!  This year, I get to have the same wonderful present, which I have been looking forward to anxiously since I left for Madrid again!  The only thing about last Christmas, is it didn´t feel like a proper Christmas, it felt like an awesome vacation.  

So this Christmas I wanted to make it feel a bit more like the Holidays by doing a few things to get in the Holiday spirit!

Listening to Christmas music

Wrapping Presents

Making cookies

having a Christmas fiesta

German pickle I bought in Munich! 

The tradition is, one of your parents hides the pickle somewhere on the tree,

The first child to find it gets a little extra present from Santa!

(We never did this in my house, but it was the one ornament

specially saved for my Dad to put on the tree!)

The apartment came with a little tree and lights!!

Christmas cookies!  They came out pretty tasty, 

but nothing like making them at home

or the ones my Nana used to make...

Dia de Accion de Gracia rnd II

Last week I celebrated my second Thanksgiving abroad and hosted my first one!  My roommates and I decided after moving into our spacious apartment, that we had enough room to host dinner on the proper Thanksgiving day.  We enjoyed organizing and cooking for 25 people and everything turned out lovely!  I made my Grandma Larsen’s stuffing, took care of the gravy and helped with the 20 lb turkey we custom ordered for the event.  Well worth it.  

Leaves Streamer I made!!  

20 lb Turkey=leftovers for a week.  So yummy!

Nate's second Thanksgiving

Americanas in Madrid!  You know your an American abroad when there's a photoshoot with the Turkey....

Hosting can definitely be a bit stressful, and trying to organize a potluck Thanksgiving and make sure you get all your favorites covered can be a lot of pressure too!  We had a great time and all took turns saying what we were thankful for…..

A Few things I’m thankful for…

-        -     My family, this goes without saying, extended and immediate.  It is hard to be away from everyone for so long and I appreciate that my immediate family is going to be here in 13 days!!!!!!!!  I am thankful they have the means to visit me. 

-       -      My friends, for the friends back home, I am thankful that they are willing to put up with a “long distance relationship” and keep in touch with me.  I am thankful for the friends that I have made here and who help me navigate living in a foreign country and reminding me that there are still so many places to go

-     -        The opportunity to be able to travel to live in Spain

-      

-  -   Being able to travel to other places while I’ve been here

-      

- -   Learning how to be independent 

The Aftermath...