Five reasons to cherish a Spanish Christmas

Christmas in Spain offers something very different

Ah, Christmas. No other time of the year – save, perhaps, for those heady six weeks in summer when the schools are closed – has the ability to weirdly alter one’s perceptions of space and time.

As a kid I remember staring forlornly at the fourth opened door on my chocolate advent calendar, totting up the remaining 20 unopened doors and sighing to myself (well, bawling to my parents, but like I say, Christmas does weird things to your perception) “it’s never going to be Christmas!”

Back then, December seemed to trudge slowly through the days, like an overworked yuletide mum dragging the Christmas tree home single-handedly from the market in an inadvertent act of Jesus-carrying-the-cross symbolism. You know she’ll get there in the end, but it’s going to take aaaages…

And then, suddenly, you’re a young adult and December becomes a blur of parties, home-coming drinks with old school friends you last saw last year, and splitting hangovers that appear to dissipate as soon as the cava gets popped the next morning at 11am. The month doesn’t so much as fly by but melt into one mesmeric, gout-inducing affair of revelry, National Express coaches and living out of a suitcase for a week.

As you age, though, December really does fly by. And whether you retain the excitement of your youth or adopt an expression that could give Scrooge a run for his tightly-guarded money in the grumpy stakes, you cannot escape the pressures it brings: shopping days left; pre-Christmas store discounts; potentially embarrassing office parties; hosting mulled wine gatherings; attending mulled wine gatherings; secretly hoping that it won’t be a white Christmas just so that your travel plans won’t be disturbed; checking your phone and realising it’s already the 23^rd and you still haven’t really bought any gifts. That sort of thing.

It’s stressful. For Brits living in Spain and intending to return home for the festive period, it can be doubly so. There’s the weird sense of elation that flickers briefly as you descend through the clouds on your packed easyJet flight to see a sodden, green, muddy and grey Birmingham spread before you. You’re ‘happy to be home’, of course you are. You have fun, see friends and family, mentally choose which gifts will be staying put because they’re too big to take back with you (happens every year – a well-meaning aunt will thoughtfully buy you a Jamie Oliver casserole set, without quite realising the packing-flying ramifications of such a bulky and fragile offering) and then head back to Spain, lifted by the dazzling sunlight and warmth that welcomes you back.

But here’s the thing: why head home over Christmas at all? To ward off your family’s barbs? A good reason, yes, but here are five reasons why it may be better to stay in Spain this year:

1. Peace and quiet: With thousands others descending on Málaga airport for their flight home, not only do you dodge that stressball, but you also get to enjoy a Costa del Sol suddenly shorn of at least, hmmm, one-tenth of its usual clientele.

2. A Christmas tan: I once missed my flight back to the UK from Málaga on December 23^rd (those darn post-work drinks, and Puerto Banús’s fine establishments, waylaid my plans). I panicked, but could do nothing except book a flight back for the next day – Christmas Eve. Having returned from the airport, I slept off my hangover on my terrace in 24 degree heat and sunshine, gaining a pretty robust tan in the process. Yes: I sunbathed two days before Christmas – not a guarantee in Spain, but a possibility some years.

3. It’s cheaper: Spaniards have not yet been sold on the notion that families have to shell out the equivalent of a small country’s GDP on each other over Christmas. Simply turn up, crack open some wine, enjoy good food and have a jolly old relaxing time.

4. It’s more spread out: The gift-giving mostly occurs on Three Kings Day on January 5^th. Hence, while Spain’s pre-Christmas run-up is a little more muted, the festivities continue right through to early January, which means national holidays for you while those back in Blighty are dragging their bloated, bleary-eyed selves back to their desks.

5. It’s a chance to explore: All that time off, weather clement, roads clear… there’s only one thing for it – explore! Whether you fancy a quick ski trip to Sierra Nevada, a sherry-tasting sojourn to Cádiz and Jerez, or even an enriching cultural break in Granada or Sevilla, the Christmas period is an ideal time to get away and see all that Spain has to offer.