My Christmas & New Year – Spanish Style!

Having recently moved back to Spain, Christmas & New Year celebrations were a little different compared to recent years.

The downside of course, was not sitting around the table with the children and grandchildren, watching their excited faces as they realise Santa has been!  and opening the ‘far too many’ presents bestowed upon them!   I missed the conversation and laughter of being with loved ones, catching up with all the news and gossip, overeating, playing games, and eventually falling exhausted in front of the TV watching the old favourites, brought out every year to remind us of Christmases past!

So, what to do to take our minds off of what we were missing and instead focus on enjoying the festive season in a different way.

We decided to have Christmas dinner at one of our favourite restaurants.  The Owners had laid on a welcome glass of Cava (or 2 or 3…..) Canapes, a 4 Course feast of traditional fayre, with lashings of wine, and finished off with Coffee, Mince Pies, and of course a visit from Santa!  The party atmosphere was just what we needed, and the conversation, and the wine flowed all afternoon!

Its Papa Noel!!

Once we were home of course, it was time to video call the family to see how their day went, and to wish them all a Very Happy Christmas.

So on to New Year….

I think New Year can be quite a sad time of year. A time to think about those family members and friends who are no longer with us.  The sudden passing of some of our most famous Icons, more recently George Michael.  (whom I met once before he became a megastar, and when Wham had just started out. -Very polite and friendly).

Its a time of reflection, and looking back, I would say that 2016 was definitely the year of travel!  My New Year’s Resolution for 2016 was to ‘Keep Moving’ as this had many meanings and connotations.   Keep Fit, Keep Healthy, Keep Travelling.  Well I’ve certainly done that!  I’ve been lucky enough to have cruised with a variety of cruise lines  to a number of countries including my favourite so far, The Baltics, as well as a cheeky 2 night River Cruise with Avalon, and of course to Dublin for our annual conference.  Oh and lastly with Britanny Ferries from Plymouth to Santander and a drive through Spain to the Costa Del Sol!

Usually on New Year, unless we are going to a House Party we tend to stay indoors.  This year we spent New Years Eve in a local bar, making new friends, and then New Years day, on the beach listening to a great band called REVIVAL, joining in with all the old favourites, while the sun shone in the sky.  Glorious!

Here’s me cutting some shapes on the beach!

Now the holiday season is over, and we are into the first week of a New Year  its time to look ahead and start filling the 365 empty pages of 2017, and what better way than planning your cruise! There’s lots of new adventures out there waiting to be experienced, so I look forward to speaking to you soon and helping you realise your 2017 dreams!  Call me on 0330 303 8206.

Gina