Vacciones de la Navidad y Año Nuevo

Christmas 

This year was easily the weirdest Christmas Eve and Christmas Day we've ever spent: no family, no snow, and no special meal.  It was just the four of us and we hung out at home with our tiny fake tree lit up watching "Mrs. Doubtfire" through our new Spanish Netflix account. We skyped with the grandparents who weren't going to be here so they could see the kids playing with the toys they bought them. All around, it was pretty sad and depressing. When it was time for bed we set out some food for Santa. We figured that he would expect more traditional Spanish food while in Spain, so red wine, olives, bread, cheese, and the classic turron (almond based) dessert was what we left for him.

My parents and my sister, her husband and daughter, were scheduled to arrive the morning of the 25th in Alicante. Unfortunately their connecting flight from Madrid was cancelled and they spent 9 hours in the Madrid airport waiting for a later flight. I couldn't handle waiting for them to rent a car and drive up here so we decided that the four of us would make our way down the coast to Alicante and greet them when they arrived around 6pm. We drove through Moraira, down through

Calpe, and ended up in Altea which is about 40 minutes south of Jávea. We had heard from several people that we needed to go see Altea and after visiting I understand why. The blue domed church in the center square of the pueblo, is situated on a hill with fantastic views of coastlines both north and south as well as stunning mountains inland. The entire pueblo consists of classic white-washed Mediterranean buildings with beautiful, narrow, cobble stone streets. We were able to find a cafe that served us coffee but most shops and restaurants were closed for the holiday. After getting a taste of Altea, I know we have to go back and experience the town at night, lit up, with restaurants bustling. The town is simply breathtaking.

After some lost baggage drama the entire family made it back to Jávea and spent the next 7 days together. There were several highlights of the week. One was introducing my family (who are all tennis players) to the popular game of padel tenis. "Santa" brought our family 4 padel racquets for Christmas so we rented a pista de padel at the polideportivo (sports center) a few blocks from the apartment and everyone got a chance to try it out! Getting a feel for the racquets and how to play off the back wall was a fun challenge for everyone. Of course trash talk was involved.

Another highlight, especially for the musicians in the family, was visiting a local 'fabrica de guitarras classicas' (classical guitar factory). For me the word factory brings forth imagery of a huge building with large machinery but this factory was nothing like that. We drove just outside of Jávea to the small town of Gata de Gorgos and found the home and large garage/warehouse where the Broseta family makes these classical guitars. Their security system consists of two large german shepherds dogs that bark ferociously when you pull up, until the sweet grandmother greets you at the door. We were welcomed into the warehouse and could see the materials and tools that they used to build the guitars.

They make three types of guitars: 'classica', 'flamenco', and 'tres cubans', all beautifully handcrafted with unique artwork. My brother-in-law Eric is a musician and song-writer from Nashville, TN, and he enjoyed sitting in the humble little office playing different guitars and speaking (in his best Spanish) with Paco who now runs the business now with his brother and three sons. They've made personalized guitars for many celebrities including Amy Winehouse, Tom Hanks, and Russell Crowe... to name a few.

Other trip highlights included hiking Cap San Antonio, spending a day at Dénia castle, visiting the miradors of Portixol and Cap del Nau, experiencing the weekly Thursday market in old town Jávea, and visiting a farm to pick organic mandarin oranges that are in season.

New Year's Eve

My family was here through the New Year which meant we had overnight babysitters for the first time since we'd been living in Spain! Watch out Jávea! As someone who doesn't like to stay up late, I have managed to boycott the holiday for the last 10 years.

There is nothing fun about being hungover, tired, and trying to take care of your own kids New Year's day, let alone having to go back to teaching a bunch of unmotivated teenagers on January 2nd. But since we're in Spain, we had babysitters, and I'm not teaching, we decided to live it up and experience how spaniards bring in the "Nochevieja". We turned to our American/Spanish friends who gave us an excellent experience that looked like this:

10:00:  Cooking jumbo shrimp "langostinas" (the traditional food) and drinking wine
10:45ish: Eating dinner wearing our store bought new year's kits (hats, glasses, lies, eye patches etc)
11:45:  Getting ready to watch the bells ring in Madrid on TV
meant having your 12 green grapes ready.

12:00: There are 4 quarter bells (wait for it...wait for it...) then 12 chimes-one for each month- and you have to eat a grape on each bell to bring luck for the new year. This was much more challenging than I expected, mainly because I'd bought grapes with seeds only to learn this made it much more difficult.
12:00 -1:00: Dance party, call loved ones, pop champagne, throw confetti everywhere
1:00-2:00: Playing the game 'Catch Phrase' (not exactly a Spanish tradition but an extremely great way burn some calories laughing A LOT)
2:00-3:00: Go to some bar's after party
3:30- 6:00: Finish off the night dancing at the discoteca

(You can probably imagine how us 30-something-year-olds felt after clubbing until 6:00 am). I was prepared to be worthless for the next two days but something magical happened on New Years day. We heard that at 1pm there was going to be an organized plunge into the mediterranean with people in costumes. Unfortunately, by the time we made it to the beach, the plunge was over. Regardless, we did our own run into the sea and it shocked my system -forced me to catch my breath- and brought me back to life. After this brief 'swim' I am convinced that it is the perfect cure for a hangover and sleep deprivation that would have otherwise manifested into something ugly. The rest of the day I felt great and enjoyed the day exploring new coastline with my family on their last day of vacation here. While I don't think I need to repeat that party-all-night experience in the future, I'm happy to say that I did it. Starting a year with a dip in the mediterranean afterward was not a bad way to start 2016 either! ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!