Family, olè!

As announced, last week Tara got to meet her family of the more exotic, mediterranean side, olè! They arrived at about 1am, and they arrived in style, bearing vast quantities of presents from everybody in Spain... I still haven't decided whether Tara got luckier, or the fridge: huge homebaked cakes (thanks to the nice neighbour), liters of good olive oil, two kilos of nuts, and about 5 kilos each of various types of cheese and meats, at least.
When 7 salamis materialised out of the first bag of edibles, I just stopped counting and started fearing for storage space. On it went with a suitcase full of things for Tara: Everything from daddy's baby blanket, on with vast amounts of clothes, cuddly toys and various educational books (my first Spanish words, colours and shapes), and through to little gold bracelets and mini mouse earrings. And not only were the presents from people present, but also from the neighbours, greatuncles, aunts and cousins, the married aunt's mother, and a whole lot of people that I'd met but once, and Tara not yet at all...
a wonderful people, the Spanish, and we definately cannot spend Christmas there this year, as we're not currently rich enough to pay for the kind of overweight we'd have to deal with on the plane if we did (body AND suitcase weight!).
Luckily Tara slept through all the rustling of wrapping paper, or else we would not have taken two hours unwrapping everything on her behalf (and that of the fridge), but surely much much longer.


Tara and her family got on like a house on fire (the fridge didn't do as well and kept getting all warm as the door kept popping back open due to over-filleage, and surely getting warm is not what a fridge likes best, though it does come close to being on fire), and adapted to Spanish levels of volume (think fire engines and sirens) well enough.

La abuela: BEEAUUUtiful girl! My BEEAUUUUtiful granddaughter!
Tari: EEEeRRRRHHH! GGGUUURRRRRR! HHHRRRRR!
All hearts were won within a matter of minutes (who could resist her charming smiles?), though England as a country did not score so well, what with the horrible cold, the odd opening hours of restaurants, and why actually does Croques not serve any wine?!


On through 3 1/2 days of (cold) English adventures, and surely the various members of the family liked different things best. A trip to Oxford for those interested in culture and history, a number of trips through the local shops for those who needed presents buying, and one guilt free, taxi free trip to the dentist for me (rental car, Jose for a driver, and grandma and grandpa for baby sitters!), though as a matter of fact, Jose felt rather anxious about that one, waiting for me at the dentist and phoning home thrice within an hour to check on his daughter's and the baby sitters' well being. Tara herself must have loved the loving attention of 5 adults in one go best, for when it was time to say say her good-byes, she took to loud and desperate wailing. And that had only a little to do with her being desperately hungry!

With so much love, and so many presents we can only hope that she still loves mummy and daddy best, after all we only gave her the gift of life and nothing much beyond. But she still loves a giggle with mummy, and at least doesn't cry with daddy, so there is hope still.