What we are doing for Christmas

a.k.a. Oh, we had plans.

I've been meaning to share what we are actually going to be doing for Christmas for a while . . .so I'm rushing to get it down with the intent to edit later (yeah right)

Two incredibly kind, attractive and intelligent folks I met while studying in Germany are having their religious wedding in the RB Venezuela very soon. We wanted to go, but in the summer we were completely overcome with wedding planning, and when we came up for air -

1. None of the bride's closest friends from Germany were able to go. (I belong more to the aquaintance circle.)
2. My Spanish speaking friends weren't going
3. D. and I don't speak Spanish
4. Caracas has not magically morphed into Zürich and you have to fly there to get anywhere else - and unlike the rest of the world, the airport is also a dangerous place to be. (I have heard nothing but good things about the city where the wedding is taking place. The residents are said to be very friendly, and to speak lovely Spanish. The region is said to be particularly beautiful. We had a friend just come back from that city and he has just raved about it. He, on the other hand, knows someone who was robbed at the airport and was able to arrange for a private person to pick him up .)
   
5. We didn't have tickets yet.

It would have been extremely awkward, being the only non-Latinos at something like that, particularly since we can't manage on our own.

Then there was talk of going to visit D.'s brother in Africa with the rest of the family. I had minor misgivings that it might be a wee bit too much togetherness, but it never became an issue because D. doesn't have vacation at Christmas. He was visiting said brother last year, and he and co-worker with children trade off, it's only fair that we are here this year.

That practical aspect (and ticket prices) also meant that any last minute trip to CR where we have a very gracious invitation and I have more confidence that we could get by with English was also not an option. A quick trip to the States was also out.

So then I planned a trip to the Alsace. I slogged through incredible webpages, in French, mind you. With many pages, the info is considerably more detailed in French than in any other language (quelle surprise!). I wanted to spend 3 or 4 days and go to Colmar, and perhaps pop back over the Rhein to Freiburg before spending Christmas Eve and Christmas in Strasbourg.

Well, we are not doing that either because there is a cat, with no one to keep him company. So that's what we are doing - watching the cat. We are still going to Strasbourg for one incredibly long and in all likelihood exhausting Christmas Eve, because I do not want to miss this (see right), and because the Christmas markets are open in Strasbourg on the 24th after everything in Germany is shut down.

And I find it strangely comforting to be needed, if only by a cat.