After much deliberation our family decided to spend the holidays together in Southern Spain. It met all the criteria: decent weather in December, in between the Northeast U.S. and Russia, fun winter holiday festivities, and (the most challenging criteria of all) my parents hadn’t been there recently. So we packed our bags and headed off to meet my parents, Emily, and Michael for a fun-filled week and a half in Granada and the Costa del Sol. Sadly, we forgot to pack Mr. Smart so one of our first missions in Granada was to find a suitable companion, a friend to bring home to Mr. Smart to make up for leaving him behind. Meet Senora Sesos, a camera-shy Granada native, who accompanied us on our adventures.

This winter the kids were a bit disappointed at the lack of holiday decor in our apartment. Nana came to the rescue, with a suitcase full of dreidels, gelt, a menorah, the kids’ hand-embroidered personalized stockings, gingerbread house and train kits, a tin of Christmas cookies, and a bag of tiny Christmas ornaments, not to mention all the presents. While we were searching for Senora Sesos, Nana was on a mission to find a tiny tree. In one of the plazas near our rental we both succeeded, us finding S.S. and Nana finding a tree at a stand selling trees and other miniatures for nativity scenes. Christmas was saved! On Christmas Eve, Alden, Mila and Nana entertained us with a Christmas play and dance. We had a fun morning relaxing in our PJs and then Poppy, Michael, Emily, Simon and I joined the locals for a late morning/early afternoon stroll through the streets. Later, Alden, Emily and Mila tested us on our Christmas knowledge with a fun game of Kahoot.

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A highlight of Granada was the Alhambra which thanks to Michael’s careful trip planning was a smooth experience despite the crowds.

The photos below capture some other fun moments from our time in Granada- a walking tour through the Albaicin district, hanging with Einstein outside the fabulous Granada Science Park, hearing an opera singer outside the Royal Chapel and a highly entertaining street performer messing with passersby and willing audience members. Not pictured in the photos are the amazing tapas, wine, churros & chocolate, and ice cream that we enjoyed during our stay.

Above photos of street performer taken by Vick and Einstein shot I believe is Emily’s.

The next stop on our journey was a very unique mountain town with a witch theme, Soportujar. When asking the kids about the top 10 highlights of this trip, this town made the cut. The roadside into the town had interesting sculptures and in the center was a big tree with a witch cauldron statue. While there we met the town pig and after a brief jaunt down a side street came to the dragon penis fountain (as we named it) that apparently had some fertility-inducing powers.

We also stopped in the old white hillside city of Capiliera for an Indian/Spanish tapas meal on a patio with a terrific view. After lunch, Emily, Michael, Simon, and I took a short hike through the narrow alleys of the town and the surrounding countryside. We enjoyed a post-hike stop for samples and souvenirs at Abuela ili’s chocolate shop.

The next stop was Salobrena on the Costa del Sol, where my parents had rented us a villa, complete with a heated pool and a lemon tree! Unfortunately, the pool temps did not make it to the promised 82 degrees until the final evening, but we did take advantage on our last night hosting a pool party with my cousin Leigh and her family. But before that, we were able to explore the coast. Highlights were the Nerja caves, rock and shell hunting for our rainbow collection, and celebrating my parents’ 49th anniversary with a tasty dinner and beach walk. And again, of course, the tapas, wine, churros, and ice cream.

After Salobrena, my parents and sister and Michael headed back to Malaga to catch their flights home, and we continued on to Seville to ring in the New Year. We had heard that the place to be in Seville at midnight was Plaza Nueva, which was a short walk from our rental. So after dinner and a long stroll, we headed into the square and bought two overpriced bags of 12 slightly mushy grapes so the kids could participate in the Spanish NY tradition of eating one grape per chime of midnight. The Plaza was packed and had a festive feel, however the midnight ritual seemed a little anti-climactic. I think we were expecting at least some church bells and a semi-coordinated countdown and hoping for maybe a light/music show (we had heard what we thought was a soundcheck earlier) or some fireworks. But it turns out that the celebration is more about people coming together to hang out, drink, throw confetti, and be merry. We enjoyed ourselves, despite it not being exactly what we thought we would experience.

We spent a few more days in Seville, including a day trip to Cordoba. At this point the kids were starting to complain- I overheard them sarcastically chanting “eat, drink, walk, look at old buildings, eat, drink, walk, look at old building” right after I had just messaged a friend gushing about how great Spain was- so walkable, full of history, wine, and good food!

Kid highlights: orange bowling in Cordoba, carnival rides in Cordoba, and ice cream. I believe they had enjoyed ice cream eleven times up to this point on the trip- we counted. What, you might wonder, is orange bowling? Well, while checking out some not-so-impressive Roman ruins in Cordoba, we stumbled upon some street cleaners with the, to us, unfamiliar job of shaking the oranges from the trees and then sweeping up the fallen fruit. After watching oranges roll down the sloped street, Alden was inspired. He collected oranges everywhere he could stash them, loading his pockets and the knotted sleeves of his sweatshirt. Then we were off, searching for a deserted alley with just the right slope. It is hard to capture the glory of orange bowling with still photography, but we do have a video tutorial (available by request) of Alden explaining and demonstrating the proper technique.

Adult highlights: food, wine, walking, and the old buildings- the Real Alcazar, Seville Cathedral, Plaza de Espana and the Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral. We were very much missing Michael’s careful planning, as we waited too long to get online tickets and ended up waiting in a 4-HOUR line!!! to get into the Real Alcazar.

Our last leg of the journey brought us via high-speed train to Madrid, where we spent a glorious 20 hours with dear friends and newlyweds Jenny and Ken. We were so happy that they were up to take a detour on their honeymoon to hang with us in Madrid for a night. After a tapas dinner, a few rounds of balloon ball, and exploring the Mercado de San Miguel (ice cream hot pocket for Alden!- #12) we spotted Tapas de China! We have been very much missing Dim Sum and decided to get some take-out to enjoy with our late-night board gaming. It was a whirlwind of a visit, but so fun!

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The end of our trip was just what we needed- a relaxing visit to Leigh, Thorley, Rhys, and Ryann’s home just outside Madrid. The kids had a blast- they spent an amazing amount of time collaborating on a spectacular holiday show- complete with a play, puppet show, dance, jokes, a Kahoot, origami, and more. It was so much fun to observe the process and see the product. It brought back memories of visits to Illinois where Meagan, Leigh, Emily, and I would hideout in the basement to create performances for our parents (though I don’t think ours were quite so elaborate or technologically sophisticated). We took part in their town’s 3-Kings celebration, with the kids getting quite the haul of candies chucked at full tilt from the passing floats. Having lived across the ocean from this crew, our visits together have been much too sparse. We were so glad to have this time together and hope to do it again while we share a continent!

We have been back in Kazan for a few weeks now. I am happy that we got a dose of vitamin D3, some warm weather, and good family times to prepare us for these coming months! Winter seems to have finally arrived in Kazan- today was a high of 7˚ F and EVERY icon in the 10-day forecast is ❄️!