I woke up to a start this Christmas morning around 8 30 or so to the sound of ruffling paper downstairs, the same noise as I had fallen asleep to the night before. I was excited, I guess, but nothing compared to that feeling we used to have as kids waking up so early on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought us while we were sleeping. Its still like that for Ruben because he still believes in Papa Noel. I rushed down the steps to find all the family gathered around the mountain of gifts waiting for me, Ruben anticipated to start tearing paper.
I opened the three gifts that I had: from my family I received Ralf Lauren perfume (perfume is about the only thing you can buy cheaper on Tenerife than anywhere else) which I knew I was getting, then they surprised me with a Lycra shirt for Sailing (LOVE this!!), its like a wet suit shirt, only not so thick. From Marta, our cleaning lady, I got a really nice white sweater. I was glad to see that for a well-off family, they dont spoil Ruben with excessive gifts. He got an adequate amount of things to be happy for, but not too much. What my host parents do about buying gifts for each other is that, well, they actually dont. They buy gifts for themselves and then wrap them and open them on Christmas morning to go along with the whole Papa Noel thing. Its not very traditional but their method has its logic, you always get what you want, but all the same I always enjoy a good surprise. I think what they do is surprise each other with what they buy themselves. For example, Christian bought himself one of those home cafe-making devices, because normally in the morning we drink this coffee powder Nescafe that you mix with hot milk. The Nescafe is made of real ground beans, I like it a lot and almost everyone here drinks it in their home, but its not REAL coffee, and Chris knows how my number one thing that I miss about America is COFFEE, and this is why I am so happy because I think he bought it mostly for me, because my host parents really aren’t big coffee drinkers.
We spent some time experimenting with the cafe maker, and about 4 cafes later we got ready to go back to Marysol´s house to eat last night´s leftovers for lunch with all the family again, and also to open the presents from the family. The family always chips in together to buy one gift for all of the kids, I got a much needed purse.
We ate lunch, then I played with the kids while the adults played cards. We played hangman, and futbol, then went for a walk on the beach at sunset. The family kids are so cute, I love them all. When the sun was down we came back to the house.
Though I miss the chaos of my traditional family Christmas, the white of the snow, the warmth of the fire, and the sweet aroma of real pine filling the house, Id say I had a pretty fair trade being here on Tenerife and a fairly fulfilling Christmas.
