Prowling my world, camera in hand

The last full week of 2014 was very much about our little family gathering for the holidays in Alicante, together for the first time since we visited our son in Buffalo in August.

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During the days leading up to Christmas, my wife decorated the house, inside and outside:

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On the 23rd I stopped in the centre to buy some last-minute supplies and gifts. As always, I looked for details big and small. Outside El Corte Inglés:

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Forgotten doll on Avenida Maisonnave:

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Jumping castle, ready for action on Plaza Seneca. Notice the spelling of “The Simpsons”. The Spanish do not like too many consonants next to each other:

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On December 24, after my morning bicycle ride, I drove the 420 km to Barajas airport in Madrid, where my son was arriving from Buffalo via Detroit and Amsterdam (funny routing courtesy Delta). This is the happy moment when he emerges in the arrivals area of Terminal 2:

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Moses had not been at home since August 2013, so he had not seen the pets for almost 1 1/2 year, a long of time in doggie and kitty years. So about 4 hours after the preceding picture was taken, these happy scenes were played out in our home in Alicante:

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And a little bit later, we sat down to celebrate Christmas Eve:

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Cheeta, too:

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One of the things Moses brought me was a 28mm Voigtlander Ultron lens, bought from Stephen Gandy in California who now only ships Cosina/Voigtlander products within the US. So on Christmas morning, when walking Cheeta, I tested the lens on both my Fuji X-T1:

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…and on the Leica M8:

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Afterwards, we sat down to our Christmas breakfast:

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After breakfast, Moses and Monica prepared for the gift distribution. They are now adults, 25 and 20 years old, but on this morning they were children again:

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Cheeta with antlers, somewhat worn out:

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Small package:

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Moses does not know it yet, but the package he is opening contains three good Cuban cigars and a small cigar carrying case into which I had inserted an amount of money equivalent to half of his airfare to come over here:

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Monica got a new wallet:

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Something her brother said made Monica laugh heartily:

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Monica’s new wallet was not empty either:

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A bottle of Luis Felipe, the best Spanish brandy there is:

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The gifts have been distributed, and we all pose for the official Wajsman Christmas portrait:

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Before lunch, I went out on my bicycle, as I have done every day during this vacation. The main street of Aigües was totally deserted. Even the bars were closed:

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Another thing Moses brought with him was a gingerbread house kit. In the afternoon of Christmas Day, the two of them sat down and built the house:

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The finished product:

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Our Christmas dinner was turkey, with Moses doing the honours:

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The dinner table. Everything except the turkey itself was vegan, so Monica did not feel cheated:

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On Boxing Day, we went to the Mercado Central to buy some fish and generally just to get out a bit. A lot of other people (and dogs!) had the same idea:

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Inside the Mercado, I took the usual pictures of the stands and the people, but the one I liked best was this juxtaposition of Real Madrid and tomato crates:

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That afternoon, the children decided that it was time to start the demolition of the gingerbread house:

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A final picture of the house, illustrating our multinational family–Moses and Monica put Danish and Puerto Rican flags on the house:

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And the rest of the holidays continued with lots of rest and relaxation for everyone: