Twelve Days of Christmas

OK I know we are not absolutely right with the title but hey!

Well what a turn around in the weather. The same weather system which has you caught up in freezing temperatures and possibly a white Christmas has also come south!

Everyone here can't believe it--we have snow on the hills 10 minutes drive away from us! As Peter drove the car into a garage for its service the engineers were playing snowballs in their lunch break, from a car brought in from the mountains.

We still have nearly 2 more hours of day light than the UK, but it has made it feel more like Christmas.

We were in the mountains the day before the weather changed and joked about the snow-pole markers we saw along the roadside. I've only ever seen them in Germany and Scotland before and I certainly didn't expect to see them here, where we are planning Christmas day on the beach.

Here is a view from Guadalest, a pretty little village in the mountains above a reservoir and dam. Had we left our visit another day we wouldn't have made it....snow on the hairpin bends would have been too dangerous.

And these are the mountains which are now covered in snow!!

Great plans are happening here for the holiday. Our 'street' are having a street party on Christmas eve, some of us are having a BBQ on the beach on Christmas day and some are going to the local restaurant. We will probably all meet up in the restaurant on site late evening as they are putting on some great 60's, 70's and 80's entertainment.

Tonight we are going to a united Carol concert of all the English speaking churches in the area. It should be wonderful....I hope.

5 minutes from us towards Guadamar there is an Iceland which I have kept away from because we are in Spain to experience a different culture and different food. But on Monday we were busy sorting out Christmas cards by email and I had a craving for mince pies and mulled wine, an Ebsworth tradition while writing Christmas cards.....in fact it's just an Ebsworth tradition, you don't need to be doing anything! I couldn't believe it, they even have all English staff. It was like being transported back home. Everything you would expect to find in Iceland's at home was there. The English prices were also on everything, though of course we had to pay a bit more than that....travelling expenses!

I must be honest, Monday was our first day of rain and Iceland did make me a little homesick, but reading the emails we've been receiving from many of you it sounds better to be looking at snow on the hills rather than stuck in the snow on the hill! (Carver Hill).

NEXT DAY!

Last night was superb. There must have been over 500 of us in a very new and welcoming modern church building. There was a brass band and a magnificent choir. Apparently, some of the people there had travelled a long way just to hear this choir sing the Hallejujah chorus and they were right - it was amazing and sent a tingle up our spines. The whole event lasted nearly two hours and gave us a real feeling of Christmas.

Today the sun has come back and we were in T-shirts and shorts again - lovely! Maybe Chritmas Day on the beach is still on the cards!