December - ¡Feliz Navidad!

I am so far behind in writing my blog that I am having to remember what happened all that way back in December (last year now!) as I have been doing so much this year, 2020. I must catch up!

Well December wasn’t that interesting but it was festive time. Again, I spent December in the summer and the heat but it still doesn’t feel like Christmas to me…I don’t think it ever will, even though I have had 9 years of hot Christmases! The Christmas tree was put up in November so that job was already done but I missed having an advent calendar. They don’t sell them here in Chile so I actually made one for everyone in the house. I put some treats inside, Monty enjoyed the treats too! 

This year I had to write a letter to Santa (in Spanish too) and post it, this was so we could buy each person in the family a gift that they wanted/needed.

Our tent arrived for our camping trip in January…a little bit bigger than we expected but we are excited about the trip. I am doing a lot of planning on the route and menu for the hike!

This month at Scouts we did a Christmas craft and have been getting ready for our Jamboree trip in January, preparing all the girls for activities, checking all the equipment and going on Scout camp.

Scout camp was fun, we had designed a game for the whole camp to enjoy which took longer than expected, some scouts need to get better at working in a team but everyone had a lot of fun. Monty visited the Christmas tree at the site. We passed one of the girls up to the next session and we had another of the girls make their promise. One night we had a campfire but I was so tired I had to go to bed early!

After camp Cheetah had to have a bath, he was so dirty, camp was so dusty and I got covered head to toe in dust that on the way home I think my trousers were a different colour.

It was also time to finish school/work not only for Christmas but for the summer holidays. Here in Chile they start the school year in March and finish in December and usually only have 2 terms with the winter holidays in June or July. My school has 3 terms as we are a privet school and have another break added in September. On our last day of school we only had Christmas breakfast and then it was holiday time. I still had a bit of work to do over the holidays but only a very little.

As it was the month of Christmas, we had a few parties and nights out for drinks. We did secret friend (they call it that here instead of secret Santa). We went over to a friends house before we entered we had to put our secret presents in a black sack, we had some food, played a fun game and then it was time for “Santa” to give out the presents (Joaquin had this job)…I got a bar of Chocolate and a pair of cycling gloves…a perfect gift.

Another night I went to Jaime’s house (works friends) for a small work party. I left the party at 2 am, when we had to leave the BBQ area but some carried the night on up in the flat and I think finished maybe around 5am!

Monty and I making some mince pies…they were a hit with everyone who tried them. 

Mince pies are also something they don’t have here in Chile! I also couldn’t find Christmas pudding…oh how I missed all the yummy treats from England at this time of year!

No advent calendars, no mince pies, no Christmas pudding, Christmas dinner is not the same either. So you are thinking what do they eat at Christmas time??? They do have a lot of different types of Christmas cake here and they are all nice but so different to how I know Christmas cake. 

In Chile they celebrate Christmas Day on Christmas Eve. So usually the whole family sit and have their ‘Christmas lunch’ on Christmas Eve then everyone stays up including the kids. At midnight the kids run outside to see if Santa is flying passed and when they return inside Santa has delivered all the presents. Then they all open them then. What happened to telling al the children he won’t deliver the presents if you are still awake? Christmas Day is then a day to sleep and relax. As Joaquin had to work the night shift on Christmas Eve, we actually had a usual Christmas for me on Christmas Day. Joaquin came home and slept then I made a typical Christmas Dinner for the family, so they could try it for the first time. Then in the afternoon we could open all the presents and have a lazy day.

The dogs also loved their new toys, which were destroyed in a matter of minutes!    

Not much happened between Christmas and News Years for me. I just spent time planning my next few trips away!

New Year Eve!

This year we had a small party at the house with some of Joaquin’s family. We had our last meal together for 2019 and when it came to midnight we got the party poppers and hats out had a dance then it was time for me to hit my pillow before the sun came up!