Seasons Greetings!

Merry Christmas to anyone reading this, hope you had a wonderful time with those dear to you. We celebrated Christmas in Spain this year, just the three of us. Although all of the stores are geared up for Christmas now, much more so than my first Christmas here 10 years ago, it still lacks something for me. I think if ever there were a time of year that even the most integrated of foreigner were to feel home sick it would be Christmas. You can find all of your home comforts like turkey, mincepies, christmas puddings in the stores now fairly easily, there are Christmas Carols playing and even Father Christmas sat waiting for the little ones to have their photo taken with him......the ones who are not pretrified that is! But, for me at least, it just isn't the same. Perhaps it is the weather? Not just that the sun is most years shining which in itself is not "Christmas" let's be honest, but also that it is still light at 5pm and that no sooner have you finished your festive turkey it is time to get back to "normal" on the 26th with no Boxing Day to sit with your feet up, completely stuffed by the annual box of Quality Street, with a remote control in one hand and a glass of something in the other.

But now that we have a family of our own I did feel more Christmasey than usual it has to be said. I imagine that as Charlie gets older that feeling will only grow. For the first time I was not interested in the gifts I had to open, I was more excited to see him open his!

As much as my traditions have dictated to me what Christmas is, perhaps new traditions will be made as I raise my young family in Spain and in years to come Christmas simply won't be Christmasey without a little sunshine and a chorus of "Feliz Navidad"!
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Sleep Baby Sleep

Oh dear, at 14 months of age I am still struggling to keep Charlie sleeping consistently well. We just seem to get back on track and he is ill, or we are away, or he is teething, etc, etc! We were away in the UK in October and he was sleeping in the same room as me, then again on our 2 week vacation this month, and now of course he doesn't want to be in his room! On top of this he is heavily jetlagged and tonight is the first night I have managed to get him to sleep before 2am!!! Sadly it took over an hour of fretful screams and urging from him before he finally called it a night at 11:30pm. I never thought I would find myself in this position! Just goes to show! He is such a happy little chap that many people would not even believe it possible that he could make such a fuss. I have tried everything, controlled crying, pick-up put-down, singing, rocking, favourite toys in the cot, warm room, cool room, night light, darkness! It does make you feel very helpless and inadequate!

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My travel "must haves"

Admittedly it is easier travelling when you are no longer sterilising but there is still a lot to think about when you are going abroad. I am a worrier and was concerned about even washing Charlie's bottles in tap water in the Dominican Republic so antibacterial wipes were a must.

Also for the trip there we spent some time sat at the airport where it was hard to entertain a crawling baby, plus we were restricted with space to pack toys so I took a bag of balloons. They take no space and will amuse them for ages. I inflated them partially when we were on the airplane so when they were popped they did not make a noise or wiss around all the other passengers heads!!!

Another great thing I packed was a set of stacking cubes, the ones that fit inside of each other. They were only a cheap set from Supersol, around 3 euros I think I paid, and they were great for not only on the plane but when we were there, play time in the room and also perfect for the beach. We made sand castles with them and some have a print on the bottom of them, each cube different and we could make stamps in the sand with the picture. They were brilliant!

I tried without success to get a sunshade for Charlie's pushchair before we went although I did see one online in the UK but it was too late to order. I packed a cot white flat sheet and we used this when he was asleep in his pushchair to keep the sun off of him (he had block on him too as I think white cotton is factor 10) and help keep him cool.

Sunsuit, an absolute must! Makes life a lot easier and you are not worrying about having missed a bit with cream and that they might burn. Charlie is the same colour after 2 weeks in the Carribean sun as he was when we left! Healthy for him.
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Home Sweet Home

One of the best things about living here is coming back from the sun to the sun!!! The house was freezing from being closed up for 2 weeks but as soon as we opened up all the windows and doors the heat came radiating in! It certainly helps keep the holiday blues at bay to have weather like that on December 9th!! Charlie was an absolute trooper on the trip back, I don't know how he does it. I think he slept for 2 hours maximum on the flight back from Punta Cana to Madrid and then was awake for the 4 hours til our flight to Malaga and then slept for 1.5 hours more. Driving home he still had a smile on his face which almost seems to be fixed there permanently he has displayed it so many times on holiday! The people are fantastic in the Dominican Republic with children, it was a great few weeks.
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