For almost a month between mid-December and mid-January we escaped London’s grey sky and went to Valencia (Spain) to meet my team for some strategic sessions, and to be with the family.

The first thing we did was to behave like tourists, craving serrano ham, freshly squeezed orange juice, paella, or walks on the beach.

It’s easy to see how clichés are formed, being nothing else than the brain’s reductionist tendencies at play.

It was a very enjoyable month, a truly warm Christmas, made even sweeter with the kids and the kittens running around.

More adorable memories to hold dear for years to come: the whole family in the kitchen preparing the dinner we enjoyed so much selecting from Valencia’s excellent Central Market, cooking the company’s traditional Christmas Lunch, my wife and daughter dancing in a competition judged by my son, the kids “programming robot-daddy”, my son creating a virtual world so the whole family can play together in our LAN game, walking on the beach in January, enjoying home-made marzipan, attending my daughter’s first piano recital, beating the crowd to an amazing cup of dense chocolate with churros and buñuelos at Santa Catalina right before going to the movies, taking the kids to a classical music concert… magical memories.