Done! A traumatic time, even though there can be no comparison to European Christmas chaos, work (or Christmas shopping) takes as long as the time you have to do it in. So it was all STILL last minute. And, when one´s wife and son have birthdays on 16th and 18th December, chuck in Christmas it´s like squeezing a stoat into a champagne bottle.
As a taster though, during the holiday period up here in the north of Lanzarote we do find access to a very good Cava at only €2.85 a bottle and for the new year, the price drops to €1.75, what to do? Buy 36 bottles, that´s what.
We are now in the midst of the Spanish Three Kings which has the same significance as Christmas for us north Europeans, the place is buzzing. Last night we had the three Kings arriving on camels into Haría (the centre of the north of Lanzarote), the kids get called up onto the stage to receive their surprise presents from the Kings, imagine the excitement, a real live King!
So today is a bank holiday and the kids are flying around on new bikes and scooters munching away on chocolate overload. We feel slightly flat but to stick the three Kings on top of the birthdays, Christmas, and new year would make our bank manager slightly apoplectic but, he is a friend, mmmmm…