Reyes Parade

In Madrid Three Kings Day is BIG.  As far as gift giving goes it's actually even bigger than Christmas.  I've been told most kids in Madrid get a present or two for Christmas, but Three Kings Day is when they really hit it big.  Our kids didn't quite have the same experience.  We told them that The Three Kings are in Spain, and because we aren't Spanish, and Santa already gives them so much we should only ask for a couple little presents from the three kings.  That seemed to be acceptable, so when Hailey had her meeting with The Three Kings at school, she asked for a spinning top, and a notebook with crayons.  Luckily even without us being Spanish The Three Kings delivered.  It was really fun.

The night before they came, they had a huge parade, that was just outside our street.  Probably the closest thing you'll find in Spain to the Macy's day parade.  It's a big deal here.  We stood out by the street for a couple hours before the parade started.  The girls were in heaven because some nice people invited them to stand in the front row next to the fence with their kids.  It was super nice, because before that we were holding them up on our shoulders, and after about ten minutes I didn't know if I could do it anymore.  Spaniards are just super nice, especially when it comes to kids. 

They also throw out tons of Candy.  I only brought one little bag for the girls to share, and I guess we have never properly taught our girls how to get candy at a parade, because a lot of the time Hailey was just holding the bag open waiting for the candy to fall in.  She didn't quite grasp the concept of gathering it from the ground.  Luckily again the people who had let them come to the front took some of their kids candy and gave it to our girls. 

We Loved celebrating the Reyes! 

The one sad thing about Three kings day coming to an end, was it brought with it the end of all the Christmas decorations.  They keep all the Christmas trees, and keep all the lights up until three kings day is over.  I was actually loving it.  I feel like the day after Christmas is usually a downer, because it's just abruptly over.  It was nice to feel like it was still the Christmas season.  This picture below was taken from our ride on the Navi bus.  You have to stand in line, but then it's just a couple euros for the ride and it takes you through Madrid to look at all the beautiful Christmas lights in the city.  I'm sad this time of year is over, but I'm already looking forward to doing it all again next year.