New Year's Eve

31 December 2015

New Year's Eve in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria

2015 has been a life changing year. I feel a little sad about saying goodbye!

Today was a frustrating day. We were driving for hours without arriving. We tried to eat at small restaurants where I could NOT face speaking Spanish.

Brendan is adamant about Elliott making some serious New Year's Resolutions. Elliott himself (I just spoke to him) doesn't seem so inclined!

Brendan's own New Year's Resolution is "trying harder with maths".

My own is: prioritizing self care over "looking after everyone else".

After driving for hours on winding roads, we ended up in a town called Teror. Ulric enthusiastically pronounced this as TERROR!

We visited "Bethlehem": the church there had an extensive (and rather gaudy) crib, with Spanish hats hanging on the wall of the stables where Baby Jesus was born. I doubt that detail is authentic, but never mind....

We also saw the Madonna de los Pinos. Teror is THE pilgrimage destination on the island after, centuries ago, the Madonna appeared at the top of some pine trees. A notice in the church read: "Maria of the Pines appreciates all the flowers and gifts you bring her, but she would appreciate you giving money to the poor instead".

So this gave us our blog title for today: Holy Terror....

Las Palmas was a total mess due to some marathon or something. We couldn't drive home. Spend an hour hitting road blocks and eventually parked the car in town and walked home. Ulric was forced to buy crisps to get some change for the parking meter.

We just spoke to Quinn and Elliott playing tricks: pretending to be each other (AS IF!!! There are your parents you are talking to, guys!!!)

Now we live in hope of a light snack. Trying to stay awake until midnight... we will see... if we manage this great feat.

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016!

Imelda

(Las Palmas)