Feliz, Happy, Merry, Kala Christmas.

With the holidays approaching, many people are asking me, "Te vas a tu país para la Navidad?"  ("Are you going back to your country for Christmas?")

To keep my response short, my I simply reply, "No.  I'm staying here in Murcia with friends."

But for you, my dedicated reader, I'll break down my plans:

On Friday, Nochebuena ("old night") or "Christmas Eve," I'm spending the day, evening, and most likely early Christmas morning with my friend, Maria.  (It is probably safe to say that a quarter of the women here in Spain are named "Maria, so I refer to this Maria as Maria de Salir, "Going-Out Maria"--the first time we met she convinced me to go out with her for the night; I returned home at 5:00 the next morning.)  We're planning to have a lunch with her family and then we're doing what Maria de Salir does best...saliring.  I hear the streets all around Spain are full on Nochebuena.  I imagine Santa will beat us home this night.

On Saturday, Christmas afternoon, I'm meeting Craig and his family for a Christmas lunch (which is more popular than dinner) at a Spanish restaurant in the center.  Craig's father, mother, and two brothers are coming in from Jersey, and I'm going to spend the day with them.  In the evening I imagine we'll all go back to Craig's flat, indulge in British Christmas sweets, and then play Call of Duty: Black Ops until our eyes and/or fingers bleed.

On the 26th I'll recover.

Then on the 27th I'll receive the best Christmas gift yet.  This gift is so special it will be shipped overnight via airmail, and I'll have to go all the way to Madrid to pick it up straight from the plane.

That morning my boyfriend Adam is coming to spend a week with me in Spain.  We'll spend the day in Madrid and then make our way down to Murcia (...either by train, bus, or rented car--we haven't decided yet.)

When we get back to Murcia, we plan on having our own American Christmas celebration, including exchanging gifts next to my pathetic little Christmas tree.  We'll spend New Year's at a friends apartment, and try to squeeze in all the Murcian activities in between the holidays.  (We're making more plans than two humans could ever accomplish in six days, but it's all in the fun of planning his trip.) 

And then, to prevent thinking about it too much, I'll only say: I'll have to take my gift back to Madrid on January 2nd.  And that's the most thought I'll put into that for now.

Later that day, I'll mope around the airport and then fly out from Madrid to Athens to spend the following week with my Greek family there.  Although Christmas will be well over by then, the Day of Three Kings is a day that is just as important for both Greeks and Spaniards will be on January 6th and 7th.  (For this festivity, children go to bed on the 6th to wake up to gifts that Magi brought them on the 7th.  Also, most of the gift exchange among families occurs on this day.)  So I will be spending my first Day of Three Kings in Greece.

I'm going to have the best Spanish, British, American, Greek holiday season ever spent.

This week I'll be posting more pictures and videos about the Christmas season here in Murcia.  But in case you don't get to visit the blog again before Saturday, I wish you a very Merry Christmas , in whatever country you are!