¡*GASP*! Merry Christmas!

After several late nights and a few missed excursions with the family, I finished writing evaluations for my students (in SPANISH).

When I finished, I came up gasping for air ... I had 2 weeks of vacation!! Halelujah!! Then, I got sick and I was in bed for 3 days. The last time I was in bed for more than 8 hours, it was because I was giving birth.

Our gift for Christmas arrived by train - Mayra. Mayra had stayed with our family in Chicago in 2006 to practice English and Yana stayed with her family in Mexico to practice Spanish. Mayra is now studying in Granada, Spain. So, for the first part of our Christmas vacation, Mayra came to stay with us in Valencia. (For the second part of our Christmas vacation, we traveled with Mayra to Granada, Sevilla, and Ronda. Next blog entry.)

Mayra helped us build our Christmas tree ... using toilet paper rolls that we saved through the year. The idea was inspired by Comarcal (Livia's school that we visited last January - blog). We also made Christmas decorations and snowflakes (since there isn't any snow outside) and listened to Christmas music.

Christmas is the day that we celebrate Jesus' birthday - so we give Him gifts of love, prayer, and help for those in need. The Los Doce (the twelve - including Mayra) exchanged names. Instead of gifts for each other, we planned fun activities with each other ... a bike ride and rollerblading romp through the Turia, an evening at the carnival, an afternoon at the park or shopping mall (fun?), a movie night, hot chocolate and churros. Great memories.


The day after Christmas - the Engels left with Mayra for an adventure to Andalucia (province in southern Spain).

Here are photos from Christmas (and MORE when you poke around ... if you don't want to wait for the next blog):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/abrownell/sets/72157612243430202/