Seasons Greetings and Felices Fiestas!

Something I had been wanting to write about lately was the rapidly approaching holiday season. As you might guess, the holiday celebrations in Spain are juuuuust a bit different than they are back home. I had planned on writing out a comparison of the two before Halloween, but apparently I can only write on here in little spurts.

So it's after Halloween but.....oh well, I'm writing about it anyway!

Historically the image of Halloween that we Americans have (dressing in costumes, trick or treating, carving pumpkins, etc.) is more of an American thing. But Halloween is actually becoming more and more of a big holiday in Spain.

However, there is one main difference.

Here is an example of costumes that kids can wear in the US.

Adorable. Fun. Cute. The kids can be a pirate, or Minnie Mouse, or a reindeer or a caveman. Whatever the kid fancies, they can wear it as a costume.

But here are some prime examples of typical costumes in Spain.

Fun and whimsical, right?

Yeah, no. Not even slightly. In Spain the only acceptable costumes are full of blood and guts and gore. And I know that these are photos of adults, but trust me, the kids are pretty much the same. I have some pictures of my little kiddos in their Halloween costumes, but I would hate to post pictures of the kids on the Internet. But trust me, they are very similar to these.

And if you wear a costume that a Spaniard deems as "not scary," you receive a lot of ridicule because "if it's not bloody and terrifying, it's not a Halloween costume." Which is funny because Halloween is a holiday that Spain totally jacked from us.

To each their own, I suppose.

Now, typically after Halloween, we Americans immediately switch to Thanksgiving mode. Time to prepare for turkey, tons and tons of other food, and football. This is what I have in mind (and am totally craving at the moment):

But living in a foreign country is kind of a harsh reality when it comes to American holidays. Unfortunately, the Spanish just don't seem to care about our day of giving thanks. So this is the spread I have to look forward to this year:

And believe me, the thought of it is slightly depressing.

However, some friends and I are going to try and throw together a good old-fashioned American Thanksgiving dinner to show the Spaniards just what they're missing. We'll see how it turns out. Pictures to come, I'm sure.

And now on to my favorite of all the seasons....Christmas! Now I don't want to talk too much about the holiday because I'm sure a lot of time and writing will be devoted to writing about it later. But the great thing about living in a country where they don't celebrate Thanksgiving is that they skip right on to Christmas! So that means I get a whole extra month of this:

And the great thing about Madrid is that it really spares no expense when it comes to Christmas lights. Huge 30 foot trees everywhere. Lights hanging on every street. Elaborate Christmas displays in every store window. It's a beautiful thing.

So even though I don't get my family and a huge Thanksgiving meal on November 25th, at least I get a little extra Christmas to make up for it.