Marina Boyano Méndez, 2nd Intermediate

There was one family of a good economic status who lived in the centre of Madrid. There were seven members in the family: two men, two woman and three children. They lived all together and they were very united. Each year they celebrated Christmas with much illusion and happiness, they met in the living-room to sing Christmas carols all together. On the other hand, they had never had money problems because John, the children’s father, worked in an excellent business as a company director and he had a good pay each month. Suddenly, everything changed that year because the family began to have great economic problems because John lost his job and Carol didn’t work at that moment; both of them had to make changes in their lifestyle, adapting to the new circumstances they had, for them it was a big nightmare. With the help of their parents and a job that Carol found, they could pay the home’s expense and also they had to explain to the children what had happened. The caprices was the more important that they had to give up. For that new period, the family learnt many things and they lived a unique experience with was to have Christmas without-the materialism and consumerism of all their lives. In conclusion, it isn’t necessary to spend more to be happy, the essential is to have a united family and that you can enjoy it.