But then Christmas Eve day hit. I was a little sad. I ate an entire box of 22 chocolates. I also made sure to preoccupy myself with the activities that were planned for the night. But nothing could completely cure the sadness that was mildly sitting in the back of my head. After an agonizingly long day, the time arrived for me to head to Sara's house to spend the night with her family. She refused to tell me anything about the night so I had no idea what to expect except that we would be eating a lot of food, going to church, and then fiesta-ing until the sunrise. After much debate on what to wear, I finally decided on this...
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Anyway, fast forward to Sara's house where I arrived fashionably late due to being stopped by someone I knew on my walk over. Leave it to the Spanish to easily fill up 15 minutes with small talk conversation. Upon arrival, I was thrown into introductions to a bunch of different people. No idea if they're family or friends because within five minutes of me arriving, they were leaving. Oh I should mention, I had chocolate stuck in my teeth. Don't ask me how I didn't notice before leaving the house. I'm not too sure myself. Sara was a nice enough friend to inform me of this incident. After getting rid of the leftover chocolate, I was thrown into her family playing an assortment of instruments (a spanish-like drum, tamborines, bells, etc) and singing Spanish Christmas songs. Soon it was time for food.
The food was immense as expected and delicious. The run down was as follows:
STARTER: (As pictured above) Assortment of meats, cheese, bread, crackers, potato chips, olives, and beer
1ST PLATE: a seafood soup. Similiar to lobster bisque. Very good. Oh and of course more beer
2ND PLATE: Avocado, Salmon salad; tuna salad; orange slice salad; white wine
3RD PLATE: Some kind of meat dish, red wine
DESSERT: Red wine, a three layer chocolate mousse cake that sparkled!
After dessert, we rushed off to midnight mass. I was surprised to see that the mass was rather empty compared to the normal masses on Sunday nights. In the United States, Christmas Eve mass is always full. You usually have to get to the church somewhat early to get a decent seat. Welp, here was when my next wave of sadness hit. And it hit very hard. While waiting for the mass to start, I couldn't stop thinking about what I was missing out with at home. Out of all of the services throughout the year, Christmas Eve mass is my favorite. The atmosphere is just buzzing with love and joy and the decorations are beautiful. My church also adds different instruments and additional singers for this mass. Everything combined makes it an absolutely beautiful service that my family has attended ever since I can remember. And the church in Spain was missing all of these familiar things/traditions. Yes, it had a massive Nativity Scene and a choir, but it still didn't feel the same. And because the mass in Spain is obviously in Spanish, I didn't get to fully enjoy the message of what was being preached. Yes, I know we were celebrating the birth of Jesus, but there is always more to it than that. Anyway, mass ended, and before we could leave, everyone had to kiss Baby Jesus' foot. This was new for me.
We headed back to Sara's house. Instantly upon walking in the door there were cries about Santa. Apparently, while we were at church he had come and delivered presents under the tree. (Sara has two very young cousins.)
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Sara's family has been wonderful to me ever since my arrival into their lives. They treat me as one of their own which I will forever be grateful for. They had presents waiting for me too which included a very nice shirt and a beautiful scarf. After presents, Sara and I departed the house to join her Spanish friends out at the bars.
I would like to mention that it never rains in Spain. We maybe get rain once a month, otherwise it is always blue skies and sunny. Of all of the days to rain, Mother Nature decided Christmas Eve was the best day for it. And it didn't just rain; it POURED. It poured from 12:30am until 24 hours later. It poured non stop to the point where my room, which is on the second story of the house, had a mini flood. I wish I was exaggerating. The rain found a way to creep through the bottom of the windows (they go from ceiling to floor) and onto my floor.
Because of the rain, we picked a bar and stayed there the majority of our time. Usually, you hop around from place to place but no one wanted to venture out in this rain. I made it till about 4:00am before calling it quits and heading back to my house. By the time I arrived back home, I looked like a wet cat.
The next day, Christmas day, well lets just say I spent the day in bed, in pajamas, and eating lots of food. It was a very sad day. The reason it was so sad was because it felt like I had completely missed Christmas. Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. And this year, I felt like I just never had the chance to take part in it. I think this is because I didn't get to do a single tradition I am used to. Or maybe it's because Spain doesn't treat it like Americans treat it. To them it isn't a big deal; it's just another reason to party. (And I don't say these things in a bad way; it's just how they view Christmas.) I would compare it to Thanksgiving Eve combined with Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving Eve in the United States is a night to go out and party and see people who have just returned home and whom you haven't seen in forever. And after a night out, the next day is spent eating tons of food with family and friends. Christmas Eve in Spain s exactly the same (except combine both Thanksgiving Eve and Thanksgiving Day). Everyone returns back to the towns they grew up in and it is a big social night seeing everyone you haven't seen in forever. You also eat a big meal with your family beforehand. The feelings you feel on Thanksgiving are extremely different from the ones of Christmas. And I think because I never felt the feelings that I am used to at Christmas time, it made me feel like the holiday was skipped this year. The realization that I had missed out on it was what made it so sad. Christmas in Spain was just another day which is the opposite of what it is in the United States, at least for me.
Did I mention it was still raining (it matched my mood), and my room was flooding? Woohoo.
Out of all of things I have experienced so far in Spain, this was definitly the hardest. All I wanted was to be home but there was nothing I could do about it. (Trust me, I looked up airline prices but $1,200 was a little out of my price range. And yes, I even looked up discounted prices for flying home in an emergency. I felt this was a valid emergency.) If I do spend another year in Spain or in any other country, I have made the vow to be home for Christmas.
I also give kudos the military men and women who have to spend Christmas away from their families. It is not an easy feat. And I thank every single one of them for that. (Shout out to my butthead of a brother. And Nolan Wire too!)
Lastly, this Christmas made me realize how many wonderful people I have in my life. I want to say thank you to everyone who thought of me this holiday season and sent me Christmas Cards. Receiving cards was a big joy during the days leading up to Christmas. And thank you to all of my friends for keeping in touch with me over the last four months whether it was through facebook, whatsapp, or skype. It really means a lot.
Also, I wouldn't last a minute in Spain without the amazing friends I have made here.
And finally a big thank you to the old college roommates and my best friend. You four have been especially wonderful with keeping me updated on life back in the United States.
Merry Christmas from Mrs. Scrooge herself. Bah humbug.
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