December events: trip to Seville, Kindermuzik, Party, and the Polar Express!

December was a busy month for us! Of course, it is busy for almost everyone, but it is always interesting when you are in a new place and want to check out all the Christmas traditions for the first time. I already posted about the base tree lighting ceremony, Tables for 10 at the chapel, the 5k run, Danny's 3rd birthday, and his first day of preschool. That only takes us to December 7!

After that, we managed to squeeze in a daytrip to Seville, which is about 1.5 hours north of us. It was the biggest city we had been to at that point, and the capital of the region. Seville controlled all the gold and imports that came in from the New World, so it epitomizes Spain's golden age in the 16th-17th centuries. There are so many beautiful buildings and interesting architecture from different time periods. We will definitely have to go back and explore some more! This was more of a 'recon' trip, just an afternoon to get our bearings, see the Christmas market, and check out the world's 3rd largest cathedral.
 This building is just one example of the Arabic influence on the architecture. The round turret, striped building materials, narrow arches, and ornate design could be found on many buildings. It actually reminded me a little of Venice! Beautiful city!

 Seville (and other cities in Southern Spain) are famous for their horses and carriage rides. Ordinarily, this would be a great way to see the city, and I have heard that the prices are negotiable. But today, it was drizzling on and off, and the horses were all bundled under blankets. But of course our children, who love all animals, had to say hi!

 The only souvenirs we bought that day were umbrellas for the kids, which turned out to be quite necessary, and also very entertaining, as we did a bit of walking in a light drizzle. They were more excited about holding their own umbrellas than they were about the centuries-old castle behind them, which is to be expected. :-)

 This is just part of 1 side of the cathedral, one of the largest in Europe and the 3rd largest in the world! Of course St. Peter's in Rome is supposed to be the largest, but this one is either longer or wider, so some books list it as larger than St. Peter's. It was built on the site of an Arabic mosque, but the mosque was torn down, and all they left was the orange courtyard and 1 wall. This is the large square on one side, and the site of one of the Christmas markets. They had beautiful manger scenes, toys, handmade crafts, candy, and other goods... but they were mostly closed because it was during siesta.

There is beautiful carving detail all over the church, inside and out. We didn't take a tour because it was actually just closing for the day (at 3:30 PM?) so I can't give you the full history here. I think the church took about a century to build, and uses different styles from different periods. But there are at least 4 main doorways, each with a different carving theme, and all are as beautiful and ornate as the one here. We had fun getting lunch, walking around, and getting some snacks at the Christmas fair. I look forward to visiting again with relatives!



Since Danny and Sophie are now in school every morning, Alex and I have a little more time to ourselves. I decided to use the opportunity to check out a free Kindermuzik class that was being offered on base. This is a program for children ages 1-4, and uses songs, poems, dancing, and lots of props to introduce them to musical concepts like rhythm, sound, and memorization. Alex was the youngest one to show up that day, and to be honest I think it was a little above his level. The parents hold or play alongside the children, but it is still a structured environment with everyone in the circle doing a particular activity or dance. Alex just wanted to wander around and play with the props, and got upset each time they were put away for the next song! They had bells, hula hoops, sock puppets, and tambourines, but his favorite by far was... the balls!

 He liked the little one because it was a little deflated and he could grip it to throw and catch. He actually made a little friend and spent some time playing chase the ball with him. But later, when they rolled out the giant balls, he was in love! They were almost as tall as he was, yet he wanted to throw himself at them and roll them all around. The final activity was my favorite. They sang a song about snow, and each child got a small bag filled with cotton balls and packing peanuts. We sprinkled 'snow' on each other, which he thought was hilarious! He loved it so much he tried to dump the whole bag on himself.

I would definitely recommend the Kindermuzik program to other parents. It is a lot like the Story Time I used to take my kids to at the Jacksonville library. Doing singing and dancing activities in a group was good preparation for pre-school. They learned how to follow directions, take turns, share toys, imitate an instructor, and memorize songs that were used each week. The instructor did a great job having unique props and activities for each song. I just think a 1-year-old who only recently learned to walk is not quite ready for this type of program. But we did have a fun morning!

The middle portion of December was spent planning my husband's unit's Christmas party. As the Ombudsman, I assist in planning some of the family activities, so we were placed in charge of this event. Since it was our first Christmas with the unit, we tried to determine what they had done in previous years and maintain those traditions. But since many of the former organizers have already left the unit, we had to do a lot of the work ourselves: purchasing gifts and assembling baskets for the Door Prizes, organizing a potluck contribution list, acquiring food, craft, and decorating supplies, finding a Santa volunteer, wrapping gifts for the unit's 25 children, decorating the hall, and cleaning up afterward! Thankfully, I had help from several of the unit's wives who volunteered to shop and decorate with me. It was a little stressful, but I really enjoyed being able to help out and make an important contribution. In the end, it was totally worth it: we had an amazing time! There was tons of food, craft projects for all the kids, Door prizes, a Yankee Swap gift exchange for the adults, and a visit from Santa! I was a little too busy to take pictures, but the only one I got captured one of Danny's best smiles after he unwrapped a pirate ship from Santa! My favorite touch was the Christmas balls I bought and had personalized with the words "FAST Company 2012." There was 1 for each family to take home. I know when I hang ours on the tree next year, I will remember a fun evening with some wonderful Marine families.

Finally, the night before we left for vacation, we attended the Polar Express event on base. I have to confess I still haven't read the children's book or even seen the movie on which the event is based, but I get the general idea. The book is about several children who spend Christmas Eve in their pajamas on a magical train that takes them to the North Pole. So, we all dressed up in our warmest pj's, walked 2 blocks to the base school, and got our Golden Tickets from the conductor. As you can see, Danny was pretty excited! :-)

 We waited in line for a while, thankfully being entertained by people dressed up in reindeer, elf, and Santa suits. Then it was our turn to get on board! The little train pulled several open cars like the trams you ride in huge parking lots to get to an amusement park. They were beautifully decorated and had Christmas music piped into them, so it was a very festive ride.

 We were bundled up pretty well, so it was a pleasant ride around the block, checking out all the Christmas lights on base. We had hot chocolate and cookies to look froward to afterward at the school's gym. They also had crafts and a bounce house, but it was a little late for us to stick around for all that. So we just enjoyed our train ride, sang some songs, and looked at the beautiful lights. Of course everyone with children shows up at this event, so we saw almost everyone I know! It was nice to do something with all the neighbors in our community, American and Spanish. The kids enjoyed their treats in the stroller while I pushed them home-- a wonderful end to a festive night!

The Polar Express took us around Commander's Circle, the most densely decorated block on base. Each house was unique, and all were beautiful! The kids said we were riding the train to Christmas town! I enjoy sharing festive events like this with the children, but I reminded them that the reason we have Christmas lights is to celebrate Jesus being the Light of the World. And throughout the season, I included them in charitable acts like making meals for others, baking cookies for the church, buying clothes and toys for Angel Tree children, and praying weekly that we would learn to love each other more. So I think we all had a very good Advent. I loved sharing the story of Jesus's  birth with them, praying over our Advent wreath, and answering funny questions like whether there were reindeer in the stable at Jesus's birth. And when Christmas Day came in Portugal, they didn't even ask for presents! They just wanted to make sure we had a cake so we could sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Which we did. :-) I look forward to next Christmas, experiencing more Spanish traditions, and growing even deeper in faith with my family. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!