Rocking my World 2014; Week 52

Yes here we are at the last week of the year. I have enjoyed sharing my smiles each week, and relating the high points that make my life out here so enjoyable. I hope to continue into 2015 with a positive post each Friday. It is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family, and also a good way to ensure we do focus on the positive aspects of our life, so that any negative ones seem smaller and less important. My mantra for this year has been "It is what you focus your mind on, that determines whether you are stressed or blessed". So let´s all think positively and be blessed rather than stressed. 

For my Christmas smile here is a picture I saw on the internet a week or two ago, and it made me think of our big boy, Kim.

Kim stands like this for ages, but instead of his head being on the chair, it is buried in my lap! But on Christmas Eve, we went out to some friends for a while and when we got home we let the dogs in with us for a bit. And Kim decided that, despite my telling him that he is too big to be a lap dog now, he didn´t agree. Tango, who usually has that spot was not impressed, but he didn´t move off completely, so I had them both. At least there was no chance of me feeling cold!

So, before I link up with Annie´s Friday Smiles, I´ll give you a quick run down on the rest of the week.

Starting with last Saturday, seeing as we had been entertaining everyone else for the past few weeks, with the choir concerts, we decided to be entertained ourselves, and booked two seats at the local camping site restaurant, for a Christmas buffet and entertainment by´Jon the Fiddler´. The meal was excellent and we took photos of each other, with both of us looking as though we had enjoyed it, which we had!!

Sadly the musician was in hospital following an accident and we weren´t all that inspired by his replacement, but we still had a good evening.

On Christmas Eve we were invited to some friends for our own little ´carols by candle-light´, as nowhere around here does a mid-night mass, and our carol service had been in the morning two Sundays ago.

It was a bit of a last minute arrangement, but it was a quiet day for us so I decided to make a gift to take with me. I had seen a poem on a plate, on the internet that morning, and wanted to have a go at it.

Someone on the Silhouette facebook page had kindly shared the cutting file so I was able to just resize it to fit the plate I was using, and thankfully it cut well the first time, (I was cutting it from black vinyl). It was a bit fiddly to weed out the unwanted bits,  - so many letter ´e´s to remove the little eye from - but I only had to recut a few, and then I transferred it to the plate. I filled it with bite-sized mince pies that I had made first thing that day, so my gift was done just in time.

The house we were visiting was rather off the beaten track, so we met up with other friends when we were nearly there, and followed them for the last bit. We had not been there before, and I doubt whether I would find them again! We spent a lovely evening with lovely people, enjoying good food, warm candle-light and sang some favourite carols together as well.

Christmas morning dawned bright and sunny so we managed to take our traditional photo to post on facebook for our family and friends. As you can see, we toasted the morning in with a big mug of tea. How very British of us!!

While we were doing that, the dogs sat patiently waiting for their Christmas treats.

It clouded over later in the morning and then the sun broke through again. We were going our for dinner at a local venue, where we were meeting up with a group of friends. I think there were fourteen of us. As we drove there, the clouds began to part and long shafts of sunlight lit up the countryside.

Again we had an excellent meal washed down with copious bottles of wine and cava. We were in great company, the staff were efficient and friendly, and there was an English singer/DJ to provide background music. It was great fun and much better than our usual quiet meal for just the two of us at home. We had two round tables put together, so I took a photo from each end.

We were home in time for a relaxing evening in front of the TV.

This morning was again bright and sunny so I suggested we had a walk along the playa at Mojacar. It was lovely and warm, and there were surprisingly few folk around. 

It did us both good to get out in the sunshine, and walk off some of the extra Chrsitmas food and drink.

Boxing Day is not celebrated out here, so all the shops are open and everything is back to normal. There will be a bit of celebrating for New Year´s Eve, but our main celebration is not until Three Kings Day on 6th January.

One nice surprise was waiting for me when we got home. Our house guest had arrived. Her flight from Australia was delayed so she was too late to share our Christmas dinner, but I am sure we will have lots fun showing her around for a few weeks.

Allow me to introduce Flat Susan. This is not a

particularly good photo of her, but she is a bit jet-lagged so we´ll take a few more when she has rested. Flat-Susan has been around the world during the past year, travelling in her own suitcase, (a matchbox), and she has had some amazing adventures. I shall enjoy reading about them in her photo albumn and passport. She is nearing the end of her journey now, and I shall be returning her to her home in UK at the end of January, but I hope we can give her a good time in our corner of Spain first. I´m sure you will be meeting her again.

So that is the excitement of Christmas over with. I hope you have all had a lovely time so far. I have chatted to most of the family via Skype this week, but I have a few more calls to make now, so I´ll leave you with just one sky photo from the past few days, link up with Virginia at Celtic House, and I´ll hopefully see you all again, Next Year!