Hogmanay

This is Adam with his bowl of grapes waiting for the countdown to midnight as Spanish tradition has it that you eat a grape on each strike of the bell - so 12 grapes in 12 seconds - not as easy as it sounds!

San Silvestre 5km

Steven took part in the fun run last year - which seemed easy for him after the Edinburgh marathon he ran before we moved to Spain - and he decided to sign up again this year. He soon realised that last year he was much fitter as he had loads more free time to go running every week! He's the excited guy standing on the steps at the back dressed in tinsel carrying "plankton" and "spongebob squarepants!" At least he made it to the finish with tinsel intact!

Navidad

Christmas in Cehegín is very different from Christmas in Edinburgh. There never seems to be any queues in the shops and nobody seems particularly stressed about it all! We had my parents visiting for Christmas so they helped us move back into the big house and we all had a lovely traditional Christmas dinner of turkey with all the trimmings (thanks to my mum!)

Murcia city

Steven's work night out was a few days before Christmas (and all paid for by the company so we couldn't possible decline) so my parents kindly looked after Adam and the big house while I headed off on the bus to Murcia city to meet Steven after he finished work. I had time for a wander around before dinner - which didn't start until 10.30pm! I think we were eating dessert at 1am!

Adiós amigos

Adiós to our friends again! They are off for an Indian adventure and we are again lucky enough to be back staying in their lovely home for the winter - which is a totally different experience to staying here in the summer! Good luck to you all - we miss you already...

English storytime

This is my friend Sabina and I in with one of the infant classes doing story-time in English. The (Spanish) English teachers are keen for us to read to infant ages 3, 4 and 5 and also to Primary 1 and 2 classes. Maybe they'll offer us part-time jobs at the school if we volunteer for a year or two!