Christmas Decorations

One of the very few traditions that we have since we started living in Spain is that we put the Christmas Decorations up on the 1st December. I have said many times I am really not a big fan of Christmas. I was as a child naturally, and I like the core concept well enough but over the years, particularly the last 10 years we were in the UK I really came to hate the:

• excessive commercialism
• the hypocricy amongst people
• the hassle of what is in effect a really simple and straightforward meal – after all it is the same year after year
• the pressure to send cards to anyone you may ever had said hello to at anytime in your life
• the pressure to be nice to people that patently don’t really like you, nor you them

I still feel pretty much the same, but have mellowed since we have lived in Spain, not least because I have got older no doubt, but primarily a combination of the cultures and traditions of Spain, and the fact that by living the expat lifestyle by definition we are removed from a lot of the stuff that we would have to suffer from back home.

I have said before that in many ways moving to Spain makes you appreciate certain things about being British more, and to a small degree I would put my attitude to Christmas in that category.

As we put the Christmas music on last night and started to unwrap the decorations (we don’t have many and don’t cover the entire apartment!) I had a sense of welcoming back old friends for the month – the stufffed Santa that sits on the TV with Dude, the angels, sheep, reindeer were all unwrapped, dusted off and placed in what for many are now familiar places.

And then of course we have the cats!!! This is Moreno’s fourth Christmas so he wandered around with a sense of excitement mixed with a air of experience at the whole thing. It is Saidi’s second Christmas and she was much less nervous and interested, and then we had Oscar …… his first Christmas and he had a GREAT time!

Oscar was fascinated by the whole thing, and it was really good to see all three cats getting involved, although Saidi as usual took the art of watching to great heights, but she did pop in towards the end, not least to grab pole position when it came to testing out the heater! The thing is though with Oscar and Moreno, give them a bag or a box and they are happy for hours, and the large bag that some of the decorations are kept in was purrfect for Oscar, and the part of the video where he is in the bag bashing the squirrel on the outside is brilliant.

Oscar – Cat Nip – Christmas Stocking!

Oscar – Christmas Tree

Moreno – Santa

Oscar – Inspecting

Saidi – Supervising

Decorations up and inspected and approved we moved to stage 2 of the tradition, chicken and chips from the Asador!! Followed by a cozy evening on the sofa watching TV with all 3 cats curled up with us.

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