Happy New Year!

Here are a few pictures from the holiday season in Barcelona. Our Christmas tree was a paper tree taped to the wall and decorated by the kids. It worked well enough as there was plenty of space under it for presents!

On Christmas we hit our well-cared-for Caga Tio who delivered favorable droppings. Fortunately Daniel had celebrated Christmas with a Caga Tio at school, so he was able to teach the rest of us the song.

The translation of the song is,

"Poop log, Christmas log. Don't poop herrings, which are too salty, poop turrón, which is much better!"

Turrón is like peanut brittle. A curious Christmas tradition that will most certainly live on in our family. Here's a video of our Caga Tio celebration.

Apparently a common hostess gift around the holidays is a dried, whole pig leg. Actually, one finds them hanging around all year, but at Christmas time, the legs seem to take over grocery stores. Whole walls are covered in them and Christmas tree displays are formed out of them. Each leg pictured here is about 2.5 feet long...We opted for the turrón.

Spanish nativity scenes include a whole countryside, much different from the manger in a stable to which we're accustomed. Here is Escola Augusta's giant scene. However, this one did create a bit of disappointment. We couldn't find the traditional Catalonian caganer anywhere! The caganer is a figurine of a pooping person hidden in the scene. The idea is that he's fertilizing the earth which will ensure a good crop next year. Think this is strange? It's a Catalonian tradition from the early 18th century. If you want to read more about it, click here.



Duane and Sarah sang in the Christmas choir at church. Two of the songs can be heard on youtube. We also sang the Hallelujah Chorus in Spanish. That was fun, but nobody stood up.

Mas allá by Gloria Estefan

Es Navidad by Marcos Witt