Feliez Navidad

I spent Christmas morning catching up on some work I had to do. In the afternoon, the couple, Michael and Ane, in the sailboat across from me invited me to Christmas dinner. Michael is from London and owns a business providing signers for the hearing impaired. Ane is from Auckland, so I had fun exchanging and reminiscing about times in New Zealand. Another girl that is from San Francisco joined us. So we also talked about the City and what was going on in the Bay Area. The sun bathed us with warmth that is unexpected for this time of year. We sat out the back deck of their boat and shared our adventures over the past year and what the New Year had in store for all of us. Michael has a flare for cooking and made a delicious meal complete with salmon with a creamy egg sauce as the appetizer. I couldn’t stay for the entire meal because I was meeting a friend in the early afternoon. Then that evening a Swedish couple that has their boat moored on B dock had invited me to share a typical Swedish Christmas meal. We ate on a small table covered in a beautiful Christmas appliqué tablecloth hand stitched by her aunt. The evening Christmas meal started with a special toast from Sweden, really a thick sweet cracker. That is buttered and then a slice of Swedish ham that is prepared by simmering for hours in salt water, carrots, onions and special peppers. Next we had pickled heron topped with a cream and leeks. They told me traditionally it is topped by sour cream, but they could not find any here. We had another traditional Swedish dish. I forgot the name of it, but it was made with potatoes, onions and anchovies in a cream sauce. Unlike most of Europe, Sweden celebrates Christmas much like the United States, with St. Nicholas streaming across the Nordic sky dropping presents along his way on Christmas Eve. While Santa’s Reindeer might have come from the Nordic countries, St. Nicholas himself originated in Turkey. And if that is not insulting enough to Swedes, they revealed to me that Swedish meatballs also originated in Turkey. I missed being with all my family and friends during this holiday season. It is really a great time to strengthen those cords that bind us together. But maybe in it’s own way, spending Christmas with people from different parts of the world remind us all that we are all one family of God, each loving our children and hoping for their bright future. There is more in common with all of us than there are differences. I guess I count myself with John Lennon and want to imagine all the world living in peace and no he’s not the only one. I hope some day you will join us, and the world will be as one. Merry Christmas.

The Night Before Christmas and All Through The Land

Christmas eve is the main event for the season in Spain. Most people attend a religious service with their family and friends. Then head back home for a long evening of dinner and sharing. Usually just a single gift is give to the children. The streets are quiet and all of the shops closed.

Tis the Season

The holiday season is so different over here. Much more low key and just not the huge push for shopping. The 8th of December was Ascension Day. I am still not sure who ascended but rumors have Mary as the lead contender. All the stores were closed. Then Saturday something else was being celebrated because the stores were closed again. Can you imagine that happening in the States where retailers use every event as a reason for a sale? I would have known that it was The Ascension of Mary because the Virgin Mary would be selling us mattresses at unheard of discount prices. There are really very few decorations to speak of. Christmas trees are pretty rare; lights strung up are also not that common. Even the shopping malls have more of a "we gotta do something so how about a few lights" approach to decorating. I have not seen a single Santa Clause at any of the stores. How does an entire country tell Santa what to bring them for Christmas? He and his reindeers must pick up a little extra time when flying over Spain on Christmas Eve. I also have not seen a single sale in any of the stores. I am not sure, but I heard that the government regulates sales in this country and there are only a couple of times a year that stores are allowed to have sales. I actually heard that is common throughout Europe. Don't quote me on this, I will check and see if that is true. But I have to say, nothing is going on right now, and I really have not seen many sales anywhere in Europe. It just seems so foreign to us that it is hard to believe. I was at the mall just a week before Christmas. It was crowded but not really packed with shoppers. The stores were almost empty. Very few people were carrying any packages. What was crowded was the grocery store. People were pushing around huge baskets filled with lots of chocolate, cookies, nuts, fruit and Christmas food. It further confirms the feeling that Christmas is about sharing a meal with family and friends and the gifts that are exchanged are just a footnote to the festivities.
I had my first party on the boat on Saturday. I thought it would be nice to invite all the people that are living on C-dock here over for a little Christmas celebration. It was fun getting to know them better and being able to call them something more than just Hey, Hola. There is a couple from Sweden next to me that has a 10-year-old boy with them. They have 4 other grown children back in Sweden. He is really adorable. Since he is the only kid around he has to keep himself entertained. He does a good job though and is always happy. I never see him walk anywhere. He is always running from one place to the next. I made hot apple cider and trifle, baked brae and Yum Yums. I explained that these were very traditional holiday foods for our family. They all wanted the recipe for the Yum Yums and the hot cider. I was surprised none of them had had hot apple cider before. I always thought it was a traditional Swedish thing. Guess not.

A Winters Day

The last of the leaves have floated to the ground and the trees stretch their naked arms skyward, catching the last warming rays of the winter sun. December skies in Barcelona are almost always clear blue with few or no clouds. During the day it warms up and you can usually walk around in a light sweater. But when the sun sets, the temperature drops almost as fast as the sun recedes below the horizon. I better have a coat with me or I end up freezing by the time I get back to the boat. But once on the boat, my little heater keeps things warm and cozy.