The Greg Jones Family Blog: December 1-thru 15, 2013

December was filled from top to bottom with activities and reminders of Christmas.

Sisters Greive, Tenney, Cardon and Jones

One of the sisters found out about a fabric store near the edge of town, and so some of us went exploring with the thought of buying fabric to make Christmas gifts. The store was on a nondescript street of mostly blank walls with high windows and few store fronts, but its entrance was charming. Inside we found five huge rooms filled floor to ceiling with racks of fabric rolls! Thinking of the closet full of fabric I have at home, I resisted buying.

There are two or three retired couples from Spain who have served temple missions, who are invited to come serve for a time whenever there is a visa or medical problem that delays scheduled temple missionaries from coming. We have had the Iguals and the Perezs here temporarily in the past couple of months. We love them both.

We had eaten at the temple cafeteria on Thanksgiving day. The chef made some effort to serve a typical Thanksgiving dinner, but the turkey was stuffed with canned prunes and peaches instead of a bread dressing, the rolls were made of french bread dough, and there were squares of pumpkin pudding with canned whipped cream and some type of crust underneath for dessert. It was a valiant effort, and we love him for it. But we were hungry for home...

Betty Joy Smalley and the Tenneys

President Tenney setting tables

So Sister Smalley hosted a delayed Thanksgiving dinner for a few of us the first week in December--turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, home-baked rolls, pumpkin pie, and all-- and Tenneys invited her to hold in at their lovely and spacious apartment. We all contributed, and had a great time.

part of the spread

Sisters Jones, Smalley, Tenney and Cioban

Iguals, Payas and Cardons (a new couple) helped us deck the hall lobby of our floor. And we put up a tree in our apartment.

We were in charge of planning the Christmas Temple Conference, and decorated the tables with Nativities.

Nativities have been set up in several places around the city. There are two at the temple, but somehow we didn't get pictures of them this year. This is our little Nativity we purchased for ourselves.

Madrid has put on her beautiful Christmas lights, and the streets are thronged with shoppers and sightseers. If Sol looks like it's crowded so much it's hard to get around, that's because it is! Several days they closed the subway at the Sol stop because the platform was so crowded it was dangerous. When we went downtown we had to hold on to each other to keep from getting separated. It was crazy.