Vacaciones!

Today was the last day of school until the second week of January. To celebrate the students put on a traditional Catalan Christmas play called Pastorets. It is about the shepherds and their journey to the baby Jesus. Afterward, we returned to school and the children were given Coca y Xocolata - a traditional Catalan snack. It is delicious! Coca is a soft sweet bread that is dunked into the thickest hot chocolate you can imagine - think hot chocolate pudding! It was a mad house trying to serve all the kids though - but they were really cute with their chocolate mustaches. They sure do dive right in!

In the afternoon, all the teachers met in the teacher's lounge to say goodbye and a few small gifts were given. And they did a mini version of the "caga tío". In Catalonia, instead of Santa Claus, who is a relative newcomer to these parts, their tradition is to have a hollowed-out tree stump that is covered with a blanket. It is called "tío" or uncle. In the weeks leading up to Christmas the children feed the log with orange peels and other food scraps. The idea is to fatten it up. The parents take the food scraps away at night to make it look as if the tío had eaten them. Then they fill the hollow trunk with presents. And on Christmas Eve they sing the "Caga Tío" song and hit the log then lift the blanket. Miraculously for the children, it is full of presents for them! Neat tradition. I like these Catalans.