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Hello again! December was a full month for us – as I am sure it was for you. We started our month with the lighting of the lights in Barcelona. It all began the weekend before Thanksgiving when some trucks appeared on the street outside our building. They were hanging holiday street lights all along the sidewalk, around the corner and down the next street. In fact, we soon discovered that colonies of these little construction crews were crawling all over Barcelona dispensing holiday lighting across every area of the city but particularly those areas where commerce can easily be found. Soon, there were posted signs touting the “el bendinguadador” or the welcomer who is in charge of welcoming in all the magic, traditions and characters of Christmas. He arrives at the ceremony when all the lights in the city are first turned on to signal the arrival of the “light in the darkness” or the coming birth of Christ. Interestingly, the holiday lights are provided by the commercial district organizations (various shops and stores located across the city join together in regional groups to promote commerce). So, in a way, it’s a bit like “turn on the lights and let’s go shopping!”. Still, they were lovely to see and spread a little holiday cheer around the city.

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Above, the shopkeepers association of Sarrià, provided superb and delightful lighting that graced the main streets of the little suburb. Below, the famous Passeig de Gracià, with it’s plethora of famous designer shops and high-end boutiques, the Rodeo Drive of Barcelona, decorated this year with beautiful, graceful butterflies suspended among tiny rows of twinkling lights spread across the entire street.

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Then, we noticed more and more of our local shops in Pedrables and those in nearby Sarrià were adding their own seasonal decorations both inside and out. In fact, many of the stores were literally bursting with holiday ornamentation! There were knick-knacks and spangle scattered all around the stores in our neighborhood. Everywhere we looked it appeared as though Christmas was bursting at the seams and would explode all around us at any moment. All of these little changes made us appreciate the season so much more and we would frequently sing carols on our walk to school in the chilly, dark mornings.

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We did not purchase a tree this year. Instead, we used cardboard from our shipping boxes to manufacture our own tree. We thought we were being really creative and clever – chanting “reduce, reuse, recycle” as we painted the sides green and hot-glued green ribbon to the edges. We even made a cardboard star for the topper! Then, we spent some time exploring some of the many local shops and discovered that cardboard trees are very popular here in Spain. So, unbeknownst to us, we were just being trendy locals. Go figure.

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We also traveled a little in December. I flew back to Tucson for a fast and furious week to get some year-end business done and also to retrieve our winter apparel that we were unwilling to ship and unable to lug with us in our many suitcases. Allita and I visited a friend in Germany for a long weekend and, while we were there, the three of us explored some of the famous German Weihnachtsmarkt or Christkindlmarkt. More details on that trip will be available in a future post.

All in all, Diciembre was a busy yet productive month, as it usually is, and we concluded it with wonderful Christmas and fantastic year-end celebrations. Spending our holiday together in Spain was an unexpectedly delightful pleasure for all of us. Cheers!