The Adventures of Frozen Jose (Our trip home for Christmas)

It has been a while since I updated the blog, mostly because I just spent the last 3 weeks or so at home spending Christmas in pure (cold and snowy) Michigan. After a few pretty stressful flights (never going through London again if I can help it where a snowfall=complete shutdown of their airport) I made it home in time to celebrate Christmas with my family and Jose. I am sure I am biased, but Santa is 100 times better than the Reyes (Kings or Wisemen if you will) that come and bring presents in Spain on the 6th of January. First of all, he does the work of 3 guys in one night. Second he has flying reindeer, not smelly, spitting camels. Third, he does it all while being overweight (and bearded). Really, Santa, maybe Jesus and Sean Connery are the only people I think can pull of the beard-look but that is besides the point. Santa lives at the North Pole. It is cold. It is snowy, kind of like Michigan. Many places have that kind of weather and it means everything comes to a screeching halt. If it snowed in Sevilla people would think it was the end of the world. Therefore, Santa > 3 Kings.

Jose and my Dad attempting to ice fish
While in Michigan we visited friends, went sledding, ate a ton and tried to relax. We also visited Niagara Falls on the Canadian side for a few days. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. Of course the falls are beautiful, even in the winter.

Us at the Falls
 It was cold but on the upside, there were fewer people around. Niagara Falls has to be one of the kitschiest places  I have ever been. There are wax museums and haunted houses, puttputt golf and bowling, Ripley´s Believe it or not and Hershey´s. I made Jose do everything and loved every second of it. We killed at the Midway games and won more tickets than any kid there. Bwahahahaha.

Killing aliens in a 3D game
And then on our way home we stopped at a few vineyards to try the icewine we had been hearing so much about. It was awesome.
After a couple of weeks it was time to say goodbye to Michigan once again and head back over to Spain. I think Jose´s first extended visit with my family went well. He tried ice-fishing (unsuccessfully) with my Dad, didn´t seem too fazed by the 3 dogs that were running wild most of the time and survived the cold. Now it is back to work (booooo) and my life here.

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