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Last year was our first Christmas away. We celebrated with a Christmas dinner and gifts under the tree, but something felt off.
Maybe it was the silence that comes with having an empty house, no family and friends filling the moments with holiday cheer.
Maybe it was the 90 degree heat and humidity.
Maybe it was just us, feeling a bit of holiday homesickness.

We decided that next year, if possible, we would make our different Christmas even more different,
by spending it on a beach or poolside.
We discussed a few possibilities, but unfortunately Matt doesn't get an extended amount of time off so traveling outside of Colombia would be difficult.
We decided on going back to the Decameron All-Inclusive Resort we visited while my parents were here.
I looked on line to make a reservation but they were all booked up. Yesterday Matt tried his hand at calling and was able to book one of the last rooms.  In the true spirit of Colombian chaos, you can make the reservation over the telephone, but you can't pay.  You have to go to a Decameron office site to do that.
When we booked the reservation in November it was a mess. I went to the ticket office, they had lost our reservation, their credit card machine wasn't working... madness.  My friend and Spanish teacher, Alicia, helped me with that and told me afterwards that it was difficult for her to speak with the people on the phone and confirm the reservation so she couldn't imagine completing the task as a non Spanish speaker.
Which brings me to today...
When Matt made the reservation yesterday he was told we must pay today by 5:30 or our reservation would be cancelled.
I debated calling Alicia to accompany me, in case any issues arose, but decided I would attempt to tackle the task myself.
{plus I could always call for back up}

I'm proud to announce I was successful.
No glitches.
No issues.
And I used all my Spanish skills.
No Ingles.

It may have been a simple task, but I felt proud.
It's times like this, when you accomplish the simplest of tasks,that at one time seemed impossible,
that your expat confidence grows leaving you feeling pretty great.

And what does one do when they take pride in an accomplished task?

Why hang it on the fridge of course!