First of all, I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! May light and peace reach the whole world!
I love to walk around the city and see the beautiful lights that give color to so many hearts. Hope and joy for all people. These past few months I had the opportunity to travel to several countries to give testimonies of hope and joy to many people, and in the last few trips I loved to see all the beautiful lights all over the place. Even in some areas many families enjoyed themselves by just walking around and enjoying the decorations of Christmas that lead us to think and remember that we have to allow Jesus to once again be born in each of our hearts.
My children have invented a game: when we go for a walk on the streets, every Christmas light or decoration that they see they exclaim, “Come Lord Jesus!” Whoever says it the most times wins. Sometimes they even argue about who saw it first.
A few days ago we started to remember the birth in our own family. My children asked me, “Mom, when can be set up the Nativity Scene?” I had been delaying it mostly because of laziness or fatigue and not wanting to go down into the storage room and look for those wet boxes (kept away for a year)… In these boxes we have many different types of Christmas decorations accumulated during my already 29 years of marriage. Laziness… however, it’s a beautiful thing to do together as a family, always included with some arguments and disorder: I want to do the figurines, I want to do the animals, you can do the kings… Each of them has a different idea and sometimes it’s difficult to find an agreement between them all. The last thing we put up are the lights. It’s the last touch to give a little more magic to our Nativity Scene. Along with the Christmas carols, Rafa and Lolita started dancing and soon enough all the other kids joined in 😊.
When the kids finish their homework, they play hide and seek with the “kaganer,” a mandatory piece in the Catalan Nativity Scenes. It is a little shepherd who is usually half-hidden in a corner taking care of his business.
I love Christmas! It’s a season when we can all prepare together. We have so many plans to make with all of the cousins in Madrid. We spend time with Grandma Julita, who is now 91 years old, and we spoil her and love her (for at this age, it’s what she loves and needs the most)… My children don’t stop counting the days until we are all together in Madrid.
Among the plans we will make there are always cultural plans to see exhibitions in the museums and in the parks while also some time set aside to enjoy nature together. We also go singing Christmas carols at nursing homes or private homes for grandparents. Yes, it’s a time to give ourselves to others and try not to think too much about ourselves. We always find happiness in the giving of ourselves to others. Cuqui reminded me that we should go visit one of her professors who has a degenerative disease and is almost at the end. How many opportunities we have to make others happy!
The letters to the kings are already written, the little kids are always the first to write theirs. When they ask me to buy them something during the year, I always tell them that they should put it in their Christmas letter. I tell them to make sure they don’t put too much on their list and that maybe the best would be to ask for three things: one book, maybe some clothes, and a toy (possibly one that they can play with together with their siblings and share).
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
This post was originally published on comoserfelizconunodostreshijos.com on December 18th, 2018.
Rosa, What's Your Secret? 
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