Christmas part 1 (pre Christmas)

Christmas in Spain

 

This is our Happy Christmas board at the school!  Christmas is similar here but hasn't always been. Spain, along with much of Europe and the Hispanic world celebrate Three Kings Day which is celebrated at the end of the Christmas season on the 6th of January which is 2 days before going back to school.  Before going to sleep on the 5th of January, children put some milk and biscuits next to the Christmas tree for the Three Kings and some water for their camels. They also leave out their best pair of shoes to be filled with presents.  Recently they have adopted many of our Christmas traditions and are now celebrating both holidays.  Most of the kids get only a couple of gifts for Christmas  unlike the load of most Americans.

 

This is just up the street from our house and is a great example of how both holidays are celebrated here.  Santa is climbing the ladder on the left and the three kings on the right.  Instead of writing letters to Santa they all write letters to the three kings and often choose just one king they want to specifically write it to.

 

Spanish Christmas Treats

For Christmas, Brent's work gave him this huge box stuffed with holiday treats.  It included lots... of alcohol, olive oil, cheese, meets, tuna, peppers, and goodies.  The mazapan and turron are some of our favorite treats.

The Ward Christmas Party

The "Belen" Nativity was performed by the primary starring Kaiya Huber with Morgan as Joseph.  They were not thrilled about doing this together but they were good sports and did what they were told.  This is traditionally done in this ward and they have ward costumes for everyone. 

 

Mason's half face is hard to see on the far left as a shepherd, and Kamree is up above him as an angel. 

After the Nativity and a short program Santa  or "Papa Noel" and one of the wise men "Three Kings" came in bearing gifts.   The girls had to line up for Santa and the boys for the king.

No one sat on Santa's lap to tell him what they wanted and there were no candy canes but these girls didn't complain once they got a gift instead!  After the gifts were given, the chapel/class/activity room was rearranged into a dining hall and we began eating dinner at the slightly early dinner hour of 20:00hrs.

Kamree's Christmas Program

The kids all practiced songs for school Christmas programs for weeks and I was looking forward to watching them perform them.  As it turned out; however, I was only able to watch Kamree's.  The 3, 4 and 5 year olds were open to 2 guests per child but the rest of the kids' were closed.  The 2nd graders watched the 1st graders perform and then they swapped, the 3rd and 4th did the same and then the 6th and 5th graders which made it so no one in our family was able to see another perform.  The school does not have a large gym or auditorium where they do assemblies etc. so they go across the street to the Cultural Center which has an auditorium, that apparently isn't big enough for more than 2 grades at a time.  This is also the town's movie theatre that shows movies just on Sundays and the occasional Saturday. 



The first semester the 5 year olds learned about "Under the Sea" and everything they did was related to that.   The entire Christmas program was performed in these sea creature costumes.  She got to sing a solo line in this song.

 Roscon

This is the traditional "Three Kings Day" cake/bread.  The top is similar to a fruit cake and the filling is a whipped cream.   A  toy or coin is hidden inside and  whoever happens to get the piece with it is awarded good luck for the new year or gets to pay for the cake depending on the family's tradition. 

Kamree won the luck with this one when she bit into this cute little gnome!  Her luck quickly began at church on Sunday when she finally lost a tooth that had been loose for nearly a month!

The city gives gifts to the children under 10 the day before Three Kings Day, but you have to come with an invitation which our kids just received!