Christmas Time in the City

I live in a city, and it is Christmas time! I am so excited to go home for Christmas (another nice song talks about that), so I wasn't really thinking too hard about the Christmas season that comes before that, especially because of the Thanksgiving situation here. Well, it is December, and it is Christmas time, and I am so, so happy! Wow, time flies. I will be 30 in four months, lol. But in two WEEKS, I will get to meet baby Louisa and everyone (except Carolina, so sad!) will be together. Cristian bought me a chocolate advent calendar, so obviously, all is right in the world. 

This last week has been so nice. The week before was tiring, with my choir concerts, a lot of terrible back pain, and so much going on. This week, I have done yoga almost every day, the one chiropractor in this town gave me a discount (hooray!), and I've had a lot more time to sleep and clean, and feel organized and grounded (is it pretentious to talk about being grounded? lol). Maybe I'm getting old, but I love staying home so much more than I used to. 

I am also enjoying my school and my private lessons a lot! I have a new student who comes to MY house two afternoons a week. She is 14 and from China. It's really interesting because even though her Spanish isn't great, she speaks more Spanish than English, so we speak Spanish to organize and coordinate, and explain certain things. We also use a lot of English to Mandarin translation. But she's great. I love not having travel time, and I always love a teenager who's learning English. So fun! When Marcela and I went to get our nails done, this girl's mom was the one doing our nails. There was a bunch of really good art on the wall that we asked about, and she said her daughter had painted it. Later, I said that I teach English, and here we are. So that's a great blessing! 

I am also loving our ward. Did I tell you that I got a calling? I can never remember what I've already written about. I am a Young Women's advisor now. There are like two active young women and an investigator girl whose parents won't let her get baptized, but I'm so excited to get to know them, have fun, and hopefully help the group grow. Young Women's is the best place to be! Cristian also got called to be the Sunday School President, along with his ongoing assignment to teach/facilitate the emotional self-reliance class. He's a star! I have a big weekend coming up because I am singing and speaking in sacrament meeting (I'm so nervous to speak in Spanish! I'm going to do part of it in English, but still.) AND I'm singing at the ward party on Saturday. I hope everyone doesn't get tired of me, lol. Also, a sister missionary that I just LOVE went home this week. It's sad, but I'm happy that she'll be home for Christmas!

This Saturday, Cristian and I went to the temple in Madrid again. It was lovely, but it is a LONG day! It's eight hours on the bus and two of those hours are SO windy (as in winding, not wind/viente, haha). I think we will try to stay the night when we go in the future. There's a hostel on the temple grounds, so you share a room with other temple-goers, and I stayed there my first week in Spain, and it was so scary and one of the three other ladies snored SO loud, and it was a really bad night. But maybe it could be better in the future. But anyway, the temple was beautiful and so were the Christmas lights in Madrid, even though it was super, super crowded! I know the Lord will bless for sacrificing to travel to the temple. Plus, I love spending the day with Cristian.

This weekend, they put up all the Christmas lights around town, and we walked around and took pictures, and had fun. Also, today was a holiday! It's the day of the Immaculate Conception. Earlier in the week, I heard someone say that the holiday is Constitution Day, so I had to google it in order to write this. Apparently, Saturday was Constitution Day, but we didn't get a day off since it was Saturday (sad), but today is Immaculate Conception Day, and so we did get the day off (happy). We decorated Cristian's house and cute Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music, and it totally filled my heart. I was bouncing around because I just love Christmas. 

Then, we went with Ruben and Fernanda to a Medieval Fair in a town forty minutes away called Santa Domingo. It was so fun! I got some good Christmas presents, and the vibes were great. Also, thank goodness for Ruben's car. I love Ruben in general, and everyone in our little friend group, but having a car around is a game-changer. 

I'm grateful for the joy and peace and hope that come from Christ's life and gospel and atonement. It's permeable and real, and it feels especially so at Christmastime, all over the world. 

Sorry if this has been a random, not-the-most-eloquently-worded post. I wrote this mostly with Carolina in mind. So yeah, I love you, Lina. Happy December to all!