Holiday Wrap-Up and News

Is it bad that I'm relieved the holidays are over?  I don't know...this month was just...exhausting.  If my last post was any indication, we've all been dragging lately.  If we don't have the familiar holiday comforts and family around us during this time of year, we ideally try to fill our holiday cups with travel and/or new adventures.  But with a newborn part of our world this year, it just felt like we were spinning our wheels as we tried to use all our energy reserves to shop, cook, clean, craft, and plan little outings.  Even though this year we were surrounded by a bigger, more developed "Spanish Family" of friends and neighbors, it still felt a little lackluster as we just didn't have the energy we did last year, when we were able to enjoy this season with a little more gusto.  I had high hopes for this month...I think I actually blogged about squeezing the life out of this holiday season by hitting up all the festivals and fairs in the city.  And if the past has taught me one thing, if I declare something in this blog, it will not happen.

The Christmas turkey went bad before I could cook it (see previous post), my Christmas morning cinnamon buns didn't rise and ended up as sugary sweet hockey pucks (FACT:  cinnamon buns are, and always will be, an "eat from a tube" food), and Chris was so sick on New Year's Eve he fell asleep at 7pm with the kids.  The house was a perpetual mess, and most of the week Chris had off of work was spent lazying around the house in our PJs.  So it wasn't perfect...and I know, holidays never are.  But alas...we are in Spain.  The sun is shining, the weather is mild, we are together, and we did actually manage to get a tree and make some sugar cookies somewhere in there.  We took a lot of long walks, wandered our neighborhood at night...all lit up with angels and stars.  We invested in a case of Beaujolais Nouveau, which we enjoyed thoroughly. The kids were SUPER psyched about Santa.  Overall, I think we did OK for weary parents.

Christmas Eve...note that Mia is wearing a Jimmy Hendrix T shirt as her "Christmas Eve PJs"  That about sums it up.

We did make it to the huge Christmas Market downtown, but, true to Misfit Christmas 2013 form, we chose the wrong night.  It was a holiday weekend on a Friday night, and I think three quarters of Europe was there.  Wall to wall people, we could barely get near the stalls.  We left almost immediately, but did take some time to check out the huge Christmas tree in Plaza Catalunya.

  

The day after Christmas we headed over to some friends' house just outside the city for a wonderful Catalan lunch.  Dario and Delphine came also, and it was a really great day.  I was a little weary about showing up at a brand new, adults-only, apartment right at nap time with our crew of little people, but the incredibly sweet hosts insisted we all come together as a family.  The kids were actually pretty good minus some end of evening melting down, which comes with the no-nap territory.

Slippers all around!  These hosts had it all!

Elisenda Setting up Caga Tio -- A Catalan tradition when the children beat this little wooden log "pet" while singing a song, and it poops candy.  Brilliant.  

Caga Tio

Fantastic lunch!

Daddy and J Man

Marti explaining to Evan how it all works...

He pooped!

Who gave this one a weapon?!

So excited!

New Years Eve came around and I tucked my children and poor sick husband in bed, unloaded some of my overtired, holiday blues frustration into the blog, poured myself a mimosa, then had an awesome Skype session with a good friend until just after midnight -- a friend I had met here in Barcelona, who has since moved back to Boston.  I forgot how important it is to actually talk with good friends at home, and not just rely on email or Facebook...to see their faces, and laugh, and just unload.  I needed that.  

In other news...we finally applied for Jordi's USA paperwork and passport!  The littlest is now a USA citizen, and we are awaiting his passport any day now.  The process was shockingly easy.  There was a hefty amount of paperwork that needed to be filled out, but it was all in English which is always a nice treat.  Once it was filled out and presented, the whole process took less than 20 minutes at the USA embassy, which was actually super cool to see here in Barcelona.  Security gates lead the way into a pristine and private little courtyard encircling a beautiful villa, which is where the offices are located.  We ended up taking Jordi's picture at home ourselves, then altering it at a local photo shop, and I have to say it turned out quite well!  The Mohawk was captured for all time in all its baby fine glory.  

In MORE news, we have officially been extended to stay here in Barcelona an additional four months.  This is big.   Originally we were slotted to head back to Boston mid-February, but for many reasons, decided to extend until June.  Chris had some ongoing work projects to finish up here, the kids can finish out their year of pre-school, and moving in June is a whole lot easier and more enjoyable than moving in February...especially with all the snow NE seems to be getting lately, I think our new thin Spanish skin would have been shocked into a state of panic if we transitioned back to New England weather in the heart of a long, cold winter.  As much as I am missing my family, and it kills me that no one has met Jordi yet, I am relieved about the extension as it just makes more sense for us...more importantly, it also gives me some extra stay at home time with my new little man.  And although four additional months seems like a lot, I know how quickly the time will fly, so we are already starting to weed out stuff to sell, throw some stuff in boxes here and there, and think about the what's next.

What's next.

We talk about this incessantly.  I'd be lying if I said it didn't cross our minds daily to find some way to either stay in Spain longer, or move to another country entirely to start a new life there.  Many nights have been spent with a glass of wine, Chris and I, scheming ways to keep it going.  The places, the kind of life we want for ourselves and our children.  How we could make it happen.  There are days when it seems a complete shame to give it all up - this wonderfully simple lifestyle.  I love living in a closely bound neighborhood within a huge city.  I love the culture of happiness and love of family. I love that the kids are finally picking up some Spanish, and that they are aware of a world outside of what they were born into.  I love Barcelona.  But, ultimately, it just feels like it is time to go home. And what I've come to realize is that, while traveling and experiencing other cultures has opened my mind to new possibilities, the United States provides opportunities to carry out those possibilities, and live how I choose.  Anything is possible.  Chris and I agree, we have our life ahead of us, and if we continue to live with open hearts and open minds, grounded with a commitment to our (not so little) family, I feel confident life will continue to fall into place.  Right now, this year, our life belongs back in Boston.  

I'm excited about it.  My mother always said the sign of a good vacation is that you are ready to come home at the end of it.  I could get myself going on lessons and plans...ideas and hopes.  But I don't think I'm there yet, after all, two seasons separate Boston and I.   

So here we are...January 2nd.   Five more months left.  Unbelievable.  In the spirit of remembering a great year, I'm going to steal my sister Emily's idea and put together a little slideshow of the highlights:

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Here's to 2014.  I have NO idea what it holds...where we will live, where I will work, what it might look like.  What I do know is that I'll be surrounded by the people that mean the world to me, which, ultimately, is more important than anything else.