Category Archives: holidays

christmas open house! (2007)

25 Tuesday Dec 2007

Posted by in christmas, food & drink, friends, holidays, home

≈ 8 Comments

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For anyone who would like to drop by. . .

Nog & I will be out mid-late afternoon, having lunch at Casa Robles and then stopping by our friend Eric’s place for a drink, but other than that it’ll be a quiet day at home (famous last words – last time we stopped by Eric’s for a drink we ended up lurching home around 6am!). We were actually invited to Eric’s ‘Christmas orphan’s’ lunch out on his huge rooftop terrace, but somehow we feel more like a quiet meal together this year, and then joining in on the party ‘ambientation’ later, picking up our friend Maria Paz on the way, who will be working.

Anyhow, all the puters will be on in case anyone wants to say hello by IM or Skype:

Yahoo IM – azaharh2g2
Skype – azahar.sevilla

And look! Matt has made it possible to snow in Sevilla!  🙂

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christmas eve

24 Monday Dec 2007

Posted by in christmas, friends, holidays, home

≈ 2 Comments

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It’s been a lovely day so far . . .

In Spain just about everything closes down at about 5-6 pm on Christmas Eve, including bars and restaurants. Tonight is the traditional family meal, sometimes followed by midnight mass (and sometimes presents, though those are usually saved for Los Reyes – on January 5th).

My Christmas Eve morning started off a bit shaky as I’d woken up at 4 am and just couldn’t get back to sleep, and then it was time to get up and go to yoga. Which I did in spite of feeling like total crap (cos I knew I’d feel better afterwards – and I did 🙂 ). Nog met me at the gym afterwards and we did some last minute food shopping. A few hours later we went out for a walk and ran into my friend Maria Paz, who runs Bar Campanario (one of our two favourite locals), and she said we should stop by after our Christmas lunch tomorrow. Meanwhile, we had been invited to our friend Eric’s place for a ‘Christmas orphan’s’ lunch, but decided we’d prefer to stop by later on for an after-lunch copita. And so we told Maria Paz we’d pick her up on the way to Eric’s . . .

Then off to find a pair of pretty red earrings for Maria Paz (she’d said that tomorrow we should all wear red, but she didn’t have any red earrings) and I also had to pick up a last minute gift for Nog (made him wait on the corner while I went and bought the whatsit).

Then back to Campanario for a Christmas drink … and to give Maria Paz the red earrings for tomorrow. Found them at the Christmas market – very pretty! After that we wandered over to our other favourite local ay Mari Cruz! because we’d seen Carlos (the manager) earlier and he said that we just had to stop by . . .

So had another Christmas drink or two there, though we also had a snack . . . and now we’re at home listening to the Johnny Cash CD that Steve (aka Blues Shark) gave me and we’re roasting some very garlicky potatoes for our Christmas Eve dinner. Nog is just cleaning up the kitchen now, so I can go back in soon and mess it all up again. Along with the roasted spuds we’ll be having grilled salmon steak in a jamón & cava sauce, with some steamed broccoli (Nog can’t stand sprouts and we didn’t get to the Corte Inglés supermarket that always has fresh green asparagus . . .)

Meanwhile, sipping some cava here and looking at the wee tree and feeling pretty good. And also thinking about all my friends and I’m hoping everyone is feeling cosy and loved . .

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christmas market

22 Saturday Dec 2007

Posted by in christmas, culture, holidays, retail therapy, sevilla, spain

≈ 11 Comments

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Went to the Christmas market this afternoon.

We were quite lucky because it was supposed to be raining today (and also for the next 3-4 days) but it turned out to be quite a pleasant day, just a bit cloudy and even sometimes sunny.

I was very pleased to see our friend Norberto there. We met him one magical night when our friend zoomer was visiting and later I got some nice pics of Norberto in his workshop with the façade nicely redone.

To be honest, most of the stalls at the market had a lot of the same-old rather useless hippy-dippy ‘artesan’ stuff, but there were a few I rather liked. I am presently coveting one of Norberto’s serigraphs, especially one with the new matte silver frames he has started using. And I would also love to have one of the carved wooden book lamps. But I know where to find both of these guys should I ever have some extra cashola and feel like treating myself.

Anyhow, here are some photos taken during today’s visit to the Christmas market. It really was a pleasant way to spend the early afternoon. On the way home we stopped off at Fnac and bought a dvd of The Jungle Book … so now off to make a snack, open some wine and curl up on the sofa with Nog to watch it. I’m now ‘on holiday’ until next Thursday and plan on enjoying every minute of it. 🙂

[update: returned to the market here]

Click below to check out the photos . . .

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o christmas tree (with lights)

20 Thursday Dec 2007

Posted by in christmas, holidays, home

≈ 12 Comments

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Isn’t it pretty?

Last night Nog & I were out for our usual Wednesday night tapas and on the way home we passed an electrical shop that had these lights in the window and we thought they’d be perfect for our new wicker tree. So this morning Nog picked them up on his way home from a class, which was a good thing because I probably would have decided they were too expensive (they cost as much as the tree did!) but now that they are up I think they’re worth it.

It’s hard to make out but there is gold mesh along the cord that has little red metallic leaves and flowers dangling from it, as well as little clear ‘crystal’ hearts. And this afternoon while I was out doing a bit of Christmas shopping I found a wee wooden star painted red and gold to put on top. Serendipitous or what? 🙂

Ooooh, starting to feel a bit Christmassy now . . .

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