Winter, water, and wine

Winter has hit Málaga like a ton of bricks. And this year, like last year, it has been raining. A lot.

The rain has a habit of wrecking everything. When you go everywhere on foot, bus, or motorcycle, rain means you stay home. With the heater on. And pajamas. Watching the Office.

But to compensate for chilly weather, Málaga puts up Christmas lights.

Lots.
Of.
Beautiful.
Lights.

Calle Larios at night.

Plaza de la Constitución.

Pointsettas, Plaza de la Constitución.

That orange was moments earlier used as a soccer ball.

Another great thing about Christmas time: the scent of roasting chestnuts. I don't have a photo of this, because it's a scent. And also because I have not taken a photo of the chestnutman (note for non-native speakers: chestnutman not a real word. The correct term for this person is "vendor of happiness and provider of warm hands.")

Yet another great thing about Christmas: the fact that any present I buy here for the family is automatically cooler and more thoughtful because I brought it from Spain. I'm going to take a leap of faith and guess that my parents do not read my blog, based on the fact that my mom asked me what, exactly, a blog was when I emailed them a link. Therefore, I can post what I got them.

Mom and dad, if you see this, this is not your gift.
It's a stand-in gift. I got you both ponies.

I got them two bottles of good wine here that were fairly pricey. Living in a wine-producing country has benefits. If I spend 2.50 euros or up on a bottle of wine in the Mercadona (the grocery store which single-handedly nourishes me), it better be a gift, a birthday, or payday. To ascertain the true value of these bottles of wine, I used the following formula.

I define the following variables:

TWV = true wine value
COW = cost of these bottles of wine
PA = price adjustment for being bought at Hipercor, figured at 0.85, as it should cost that much.
CFDTF = coolness factor due to foreignness (calculated at 1.5)

TWV =(COW*PA) CFDTF

Solving for TWV, that wine is approximately 15 times better than the wine I normally get, and nearly 21,321 better than the imported wine we get from Spain in the States, give or take.

I'm usually pretty bad at gift giving (Bath and Bodyworks, anyone?) but this year I put a lot more thought into it, and this year I'm much more excited about giving people their gifts than receiving them. Seeing their faces, hopefully making my mother tear up, as I have another gift for her that is awesome. (Won't put on here on the off chance she is internet stalking me.)

Thursday I head back to the US and A to spend the holidays there. My parents, my brother, perhaps the baby of my dad's post-doc student will be born, Mexican food. So much to look forward to.