Christmas morning

Thanks, Grandma, for the cute matching pajamas!

'

First we opened stockings, then took a break for Churros y Chocolate. (Think funnel cake with chocolate sauce) Mmmm. And on to more presents...

Thank you to all who contributed to the abundance of gifts, resulting in the mess you see here. :)

And finally, with money from several family members, we purchased this little playhouse for the kids. To find it, David gave Rachel a card with a scavenger hunt message. She had to find the clues around the house, which finally led her outside. They were so excited. SO FUN! :)

This is the first year we have been away from family for Christmas since we have been married. As much as I love our families, I admit I (Keri) was kind of looking forward to the slowness and quietness of a small family Christmas, like I always had growing up. And truly, the month of December has not been the rushed blur it usually is because aside from one all-school Christmas concert and a small dorm party, we didn't go to any preschool programs, school programs, church programs, parties, open-houses, and because it was just us, we had very little shopping to do. And because we were away from our families, we decided to open our home to anyone in our ECA community who didn't have other plans. We ended up with 16 people for Christmas dinner and it was a blast! I had so much fun decorating and planning and I think all who came had a great time as well. We ate ham, turkey breast, broccoli salad, two kinds of stuffing, sweet potato casserole, applesauce, Venezuelan 'pan de jamon,' sushi rolls, olives, and for dessert chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin pie, and Rachel's birthday cake.

We bought the long table a few months ago at Ikea. With the leaf in it, it comfortably seats 12. We added a folding table to make room for everyone else.

I just put a roll of red foil wrapping paper down the center of the table and made these little napkin rings out of some 75% off Christmas garland we found at the grocery store. It's not exactly Christmas China, but I was pleased with how it all turned out.

Our dear friends George and Bonnie came over and Rachel quickly talked George into a game of Jonah-Go-Fish (Thanks, Miss Debbie!).

The entire gang, including two young ladies from the U.S. who are studying abroad in Germany. They are here for the week staying with our friend Penny.

And finally, to honor Rachel on her almost-birthday, we sang and let her blow out candles on her birthday cake.

El Belén

One of the Christmas traditions here in Spain is the Belén, a very elaborate moving Nativity scene. Most families create their own in their home and I am told that each town has their own "Belén committee," a group of volunteers who put one in the town square and it supposedly changes each year. We went with some friends to the one here in Camarma on Christmas Eve. It was amazing. Enjoy the pics!

The surrounding walls and passageway were decorated to look like old Bethlehem.

Here are some miniature people dancing around a flickering fire.

Rachel standing in front of a shepherd's cave

A moving river through the village

A very life-like miniature farm scene

Fun Christmas

After a nice dinner tonight with Paul and Ellie Madsen, we were putting the kids to bed and our doorbell rang. There were two middle school-aged boys singing Christmas carols. Their first song was in Spanish, then they sang, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," in English. Rachel loved it. This is the second time. A different group came by the other night at 11:15 at night. Thankfully, we had the insider knowledge that kids go caroling for money around here, so we gave them each a Euro, not knowing how much money they expect, but oh well. What a fun idea! We never got carolled to in the States! :)

Christmas break

Our last day of school was Friday. This is a picture taken at the staff breakfast on Wednesday.

The Sunday morning fellowship we have been attending had a simple service of music and carols this morning and during Noche de Paz (Silent Night) they had all the children come forward and sing. They sang the first verse by themeslves in English, then the rest of the congregation joined in in Spanish for the rest.

Rachel has been going to the elementary Sunday School class and they put together this little piece for this morning's worship service. The blond on the end is Steffen, a British boy whose parents work for European Christian Mission and he and his older sisters attend ECA. The two Koreans, Cecilia and Martin, are regular attendees to our church and attend ECA as well, then on the end is Andrew Humes, a fifth grader whose family is very involved in our school.

Christmas Tour of Homes

Click HERE to see the dorm at Christmastime.

Today's Spanish Sermon

It has been recommended to us that we write down everything in the Spanish sermon on Sundays that we understand.  This is supposed to help us listen to the Spanish better and hopefully understand more.  Here is the first five minutes of the sermon, as understood by David:

"The same topic chapter 3 also remember class 40 years the word the word of God time man word of God John chapter 3 at night if responded Jesus new can not said a time Jesus responded the Spirit God is necessary what is necessary we are going a conservative group five this man very little Jesus Jesus reign social position prestige of the night afternoon near Jesus Jesus question he said without doubt Jesus responded Jesus Jesus God in front of tradition and Jesus then you can not see the kingdom of God is it necessary new Jesus reaction calm Jesus"

By the end of the sermon, I had kind of understood the point, but my Spanish classes will need to continue...

Boys/Girls Dorm Christmas Party

Last week, we hosted the boys dorm in ours for a combined Christmas party. We grilled burgers and chorizo, made snowflakes, played games and from the sound of it, a good time was had by all.

Here they are decorating cookies. They were a little reluctant about the idea at first because of, you know, the un-coolness of it, until they realized they could eat them. If you've been following this blog for a while, though, you may remember how creative I know they can be. I also made them each make a snowflake before they could go.

Here are a couple of our girls.

Here is Mr. Musser working on homemade ice cream. Rachel is supervising.


We also cut out snowflakes. Here is Mrs. Musser helping Rachel with hers.

"Ta-Da!"


The guys all taking turns hand-churning the ice cream maker.

And at the end of the night, an unexpected highlight was finding a slug on our front steps, which the guys picked up and pretended to be throwing on the girls, resulting in screams and laughter. Oh, to be young again... :)

Goodbyes

While we started out with 3 high schoolers this fall, we are now down to one, but have also had the privilege of hosting a student teacher for the last 8 weeks. Ashley is a senior at Nyack College in New York and has been here student teaching in the 4th/5th grade class at ECA. She has been such a joy to have around our home and I have been reflecting a lot back on my college years and the struggles/freedoms that come with that time of life. We have had some very good talks and I am going to miss her so much, even though I've only known her for a short time.

This past weekend we hosted in our home a young lady, Jill, who was here to recruit juniors/seniors for her college. She was only here a few days, but on Sunday when we were getting ready to take her to the airport, Rachel broke down crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said she didn't know. Later, she told me that she was just so sad that Jill had to leave and wouldn't be able to play with her anymore. I told her it was ok to be sad and that I know it's hard to say goodbye to those we love. Last week she had to say goodbye to Grandma, this week it's Jill and next week our dear Ashley will be going home to her family. Then I asked Rachel if she knew who was always with her and who she would never have to say goodbye to. She said, "God. You never have to take him to the airport."

Mailing Address

For Julie and others who have asked:

David Young & Family
c/o Evangelical Christian Academy
Calle La Manda 47
28816
Camarma de Esteruelas
(Madrid) SPAIN