Christmas 2015

Our third Christmas in Barcelona, it's hard to believe that we have lived here for so long.  I really love Christmas in Spain because I find it much less commercial than in Canada.  I don't see people cramming into shopping centres frantically trying to buy everything on their children's Christmas lists.  Well, it also could be because here the kids don't open their presents until January 6th, the day of the 3 Kings.  In any case, I find the holiday season much more relaxing. 

Before Christmas we hit the Mercat de los Reyes in Barcelona.  It's an amazing market along Gran Via with hundreds of stalls selling toys, candy and other gift items.  We encourage the kids to buy something small for their siblings and parents.  Since we have been in Spain, the kids don't expect as many gifts as before and as parents we don't feel any great pressure to buy them anything expensive.

On Christmas day, we invited as many people as we could fit into our house.  As a treat, I thought I would buy a whole turkey for the first time.  I have never bought a turkey because they are usually 5 times more expensive than chickens and about the same size.  It's very difficult to get a large turkey.  So I bought a 3 kilo turkey on Saturday Dec. 19th and kept it in the fridge.  On Christmas morning when I took the turkey out to cook, it smelt terrible.  The turkey had gone bad!  We had to throw away our expensive turkey, the first and last turkey I will ever buy in Spain :(

So we were expecting 17 people for dinner plus our family.  I had a 3 kilo chicken in the fridge that had not gone bad, but that wouldn't be enough for 23 people.  Fortunately I had a few chicken breasts and a pork loin in the freezer.  We basically cooked up all the meat we had in our house and in the end we had enough food for everyone.

After dinner, everyone had to present a song.  The Murgas brought a game and we did the Caga Tio too of course.  It was a fun gathering, and after dinner, 7 more people showed up for dessert.

Missionaries singing a Michael Bublé song

It was entertaining

Alfredo, Josue and Gisely Peña sining a Christmas song

Playing a funny game where you have to find the Christmas sound