December 19, 2019

5 Fun Spanish Christmas Traditions in Madrid

Christmas lights

Spanish Christmas is the best time of the year in Madrid! Granted, I’m a Christmas-cheer type of person, so for me Christmas is the best time of year anywhere (see related post here). But in Madrid, holiday beauty and tradition abound. Streets blaze with Christmas lights, markets and shops bustle with people and good food awaits at every turn. Of course, the chance to win absurd sums of money in the Christmas lottery also cranks up the holiday cheer. Read on for my five favorite holiday traditions in Madrid. Spanish Christmas Traditions in Madrid 1 Las Luces de Navidad (Christmas Lights) One of my absolute favorite things about Christmas in…

March 28, 2016

The Best Things About Easter

multi colored easter eggs in a brown nest sitting on the grass

Happy (late) Easter from Madrid!  After an action-packed Semana Santa in Bordeaux, I am inching back into normal routine.  We came back to a Professional Development day at school (teacher-talk for a day with no kids in the building, when you can actually get work done in what I assume imitates a normal adult environment?).  PD days are a really nice to get back to the work routine.  Today, I am writing report card comments for my students and drinking copious amounts of free coffee. Yesterday I celebrated Easter by eating vegan food and drinking detoxifying hot lemon waters (spring break in the South of France involved unsurprising, but copious,…

December 15, 2015

Holiday Decorations

Holiday Decorations

It’s important to appreciate holiday decorations.  This simple thought came to me yesterday as I realized it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Madrid. The city decorated for Christmas two and a half weeks ago.  Yesterday, sitting in a cab and practicing my slow breathing, I finally noticed. There are lights up on all the major streets, massive fake trees up in all the plazas, and hordes of slow-walking Spanish old ladies  strolling arm-in-arm on every sidewalk. But I’ve been so busy at work, I never looked up to appreciate it all.  Bad choice.  Holiday decorations are almost meditative in their quiet beauty. (I think it has something…