Holidays in Spain

The holiday season here in Spain lasts about a whole month. The first holiday was the Constitution Day of Spain on December 6th and then the last day to celebrate is Three Kings Day on January 6th.

When there is a holiday basically everything closes except for some restaurants and a few bodegas. There is this one place we keep wanting to go back to eat but they are closed for the whole month.

Every weekend there has been live music at the restaurants and it definitely seems like there are more people and tourists visiting.

The one biggest difference from celebrating Christmas here from the United States is that Christmas Eve is a big deal here, while Christmas Day is not as important. However, it’s quite the opposite in the US.

In Spain they call Christmas Eve Nochebuena and it is a special day to be with family. All of the restaurants close at night so that everyone can go be with their family to eat dinner and celebrate the holiday together. Then at midnight the bars open back up and people start to come out slowly around 2am and stay out until 6am or later.

Christmas Day some restaurants are open again and some people are still working such as in construction or necessary businesses like a gas station or bodega. It seemed like a lot of people were still relaxing and spending time with family as well.

The big reason for this difference is that in Spain they have a more religious focus on Christmas and less about the Santa narrative that we follow in the US. Children write their letters to the Three Kings and they receive most of their gifts on January 6th not on Christmas morning. They do however exchange some gifts on Nochebuena the night before Christmas too.

Although we are still new here we really enjoyed going to some of the local events and activities for children and families. One of them being a meet n greet with Santa, ironically, they do still celebrate with Santa but it’s more common to still write to the Kings. There were also kids dressed up as Elves with Santa and they all paraded the street after and sang songs by a fire on the street.

The best event was the celebration on December 15th at the Plaza. There was a stage for a choir to perform songs, local food and drinks, kids face paint and coloring station and there were tables with decorations and gifts to buy. We ended up getting a balloon Emma really wanted when she saw everyone holding them. Then we got a gift for only €1 for any of them on the table and she chose the construction kit. Definitely was a good day for the whole family and kids!

We are grateful to be celebrating the holidays together as a family, and what better place to be than in Spain? Although we made the decision to move only a few months ago, it has been such a good choice for us all.

Even without a Christmas tree or decorations around the house, we are focusing on quality time and enjoying the magical spirit of Christmas from the little town we are calling home. Hopefully next year we will be able to put our roots down better and be prepared to have all the holiday essentials.

Happy Holidays to everyone! May your days be filled with laughter & joy.

Always remember, it’s a great day to be alive!

You are love & light, shine bright as you are, a star 💫

Xoxo

GloboMama