Father Christmas has been visiting Spain for a few years now, but Spanish children still get the bulk of their presents on January 6th, when the three kings visit baby Jesus. They also come through most Spanish towns the evening before, and we went to see them in Santa Cruz de la Palma. Well, we saw the begining of it. The whole procession takes hours. They start at the post…
We saw the new year in with the extended faimly. The photo is my son, going mad with what the Spanish call “mother-in-law killers”. They always have fireworks here at New Year. We weren’t very close to any displays, but the house is built on the side of a hill, and we could see lots of displays from a distance: La Polvacera, San António, Zumacal, Santa Cruz, Concepción, Palmasol, and…
No, that’s not a spelling mistake, it’s Spanish. December 28th is Holy Innocents’ Day, when the Catholic church remembers the babies slaughtered by King Herod. There’s a long tradition of pulling people’s legs, much like April Fool’s Day in England. I forgot all about it, until my friend’s kid mentioned it in the evening. So when I went home, I decided to tease my husband, Carlos. He’s 51, but looks…
This is my son, Julio, with two of his Christmas presents, karate clothes (he’s been doing karate for three months) and enormous King Kong gloves. In Spain the big party is Christmas Eve, and we went next-door-but-one to my brother-in-law and family. We had a nice meal and chatted until midnight when we found that Father Christmas had left presents under the tree for us. Julio got a microscope, my…
This is my id card on the left, and this is a recent photo of me on the right. Quite a difference wouldn’t you say? The dreadful photo on the left is the one on my id card. It was taken three years ago, when I finally managed to get out of the house after having a broken shoulder and broken ankle at the same time. I couldn’t use crutches…
A friend just emailed photos of the decorations in her house. My goodness, her living room is tidy! Mine always looks like a tornado just passed through. Several years ago, one of my friend’s got burgled and of course the police came round. One officer said sympathetically, “My goodness, they made a mess, didn’t they?” She had to admit that she hadn’t even noticed anything odd until she tried to…