‘Tis the season

Usually decorating for Christmas is something the whole family enjoys. This year, however, we aren’t putting much energy into it since, one, we don’t really have any decorations, and, two, we will be traveling for the last half of December.

Our decorations consist of a Poinsettia plant that some friends gave us, a ceramic penguin that we found in the cupboards, a little felt ornament and a card that Leo made at school.

We are not complete humbugs, however. We made a few outings to see some Christmas decorations.

The first trip was to Málaga. We took the bus into the city. Usually this is a 40 minute ride, but thanks to the Málaga marathon creating many detours and traffic jams and getting on the ruta bus (the one that makes lots of stops), instead of the direct bus, it took an hour and a half.

We decided to take the opportunity to see the port (Muelle 1). It is a really busy and relatively new district with lots of people, restaurants, and shops.

We also had a chance to walk through the Soho Art district.

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Then it was time to appreciate the lights. Our first stop was the Alcazaba, an 11th century Moorish Palace built next to a Roman theater.

Once the sun set, we were in for a treat. An animated light show was projected onto the Alcazaba.

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Then we walked to the Paseo Larios for another light display.

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And there were so many lights along the way.

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Back in our town of Torre Del Mar, we spent an afternoon checking out another important Christmas decoration, the Belén (nativity scene). What was especially nice about the nativity scene was that it had elements of the town.

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And of course there had to be a caganer (a Catalonian tradition that has infiltrated into the rest of Spain of adding a person pooping to the nativity scene). It is kind of like a “where’s Waldo” since they are hidden in the scene. It is said that they bring good luck. The “pooper” was a mandatory figure of the 19th-century Nativity scenes, because people said that with his stool he fertilized the ground of the scene and thus health and wellness was guaranteed for the following year and that the “pooper” brought luck and happiness. Not putting it in brought misfortune. Caganers can be made of any character: politicians, famous athletes, actors, etc. For some reason, everyone seems to use the same one in our town.

And we topped the outing off with some traditional churros and chocolate (fresh churros dipped in super rich hot chocolate).

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