New Year in Barcelona!

Oh, yes! You know? Our plans didn't include the idea of visiting my family in Barcelona.

What's more, we didn't even plan this trip. After having spent Christmas time with my family in law, I thought it wouldn't be a nice idea telling my husband: "Hey, we still have time to spend some days with my parents!". But it was my husband who told me: "Why don't we go to Barcelona on New Year's Eve?" :-)

So I phoned my parents, we prepared "some" luggage and... 6 hours by car! In fact, my parents were going to spend that night alone, as my brother and sister in Barcelona had their own plans. It was perfect!

Do you know how we say goodbye the old year and welcome the new one here in Spain? With grapes! We are all watching TV at 11:45 aprox. (every 31st December). At 11:55, we all have twelve grapes in front of us, ready to eat one grape with every chime from the Puerta del Sol square, in Madrid, watched life by millions of Spaniards. And after the last grape, we say: Happy New Year! (¡Feliz Año Nuevo!) to all our relatives and/or friends and drink some cava (Cava is a Spanish (Catalonian) sparky wine, similar to French Champagne).

Well, young people get out and spend all night in a party. But those days are gone... :-) and we like to celebrate it with the family.

By the way, someone told me this tradition is only 100 years old! All this begun when a man ( a farmer, or maybe someone working in the area of grapes cultivation) had an excedent and thought it would be a good idea to stablish this as a tradition, and also a good way to sell all those stored grapes.

And you, how do you celebrate it in your country / region? Any special tradition?

(Picture: Nochevieja en la Puerta del Sol de Madrid (España), año 2006, by JP Puerta) (Source; Wikimedia Commons)

What a special night!

We arrived, yesterday, at 8pm. When we entered that nice house, in the middle of a small village, not far away from the city, my brother and sister in law, who live in Madrid, were already there, preparing some Christmas dishes.

In fact, each "family" had to take with them a recipe, previosly prepared at home, so that we just had to heat it and eat it. When I say "each family", I mean, every son and daughter of my mother in law, with they corresponding husbands, wifes, sons and daughters! Imagine, we were 25 people!

We don't usually have dinner together on Christmas Eve, but this year, due to my sister in law, who is suffering from a cancer, we decided to spend this night all of us, with her.

We started this special dinner at... 11:00pm! Yes! I guess you're thinking: "So late?!" Well, in fact, the usual time is 10pm but we had to wait for 2 of our sisters in law, who were working until 10pm.

Everything was perfect. As said above, all of us together, the dinner was really great. (Too much food, I think). And finally, when nobody else was able to eat more, we opened our "presents from an invisible friend"! After that, we cleared all that big room from tables and started dancing.

Nobody talked about my sister in law illness; her face was too pale, she was tired, but she danced, sang, opened her presents with a big, big smile...Do you know why? Because she has hope! And, that's the best thing she can feel.

My husband and I, we are now... happy, sad... It is difficult to explain. But the best thing is all us agreed not to talk about her illness, not to cry, no sad faces. And I guess that "simple" fact made her feel better, with peace.

....¡FELIZ NAVIDAD! - MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

(Image by hendrike, from http://commons.wikimedia.org/)

Her last Christmas...

We are 25... I mean, all my husband's family, my mother in law, her five sons and daughters, their husbands and wifes, grandsons, granddaughters... We'll be twenty five, all together, celebrating Christmas.

Doctors told my sister in law these next Christmas would be her last ones. So we all decided to be together. As usually, every one celebrates it at their own city, either Burgos, Madrid or Valladolid, with other relatives.

So, we are preparing everything. A lot of food, my God!! Every brother / sister will bring their own cooked meal, and we'll be all TOGETHER.

We'll all meet at a little village, not far from Burgos, as one of my sisters in law owns a big house there. I guess it will be great. Yes, great. Somehow great and sad at the same time. How can this be undestood??

She's looking great, still recovering from surgery. She's looking for help. Well, I must tell you something: she has always trusted alternative medecine, so, she still has hope. Doctors told her the truth: having more surgery would be fatal. And, on the other side, chemo wouldn't be a cure for her. But she still believes there is hope. Isn't it amazing.

When she first had surgery, we were very, very angry, as she didn't want to follow her doctor's oppinion: chemo. And we bombed her with what we thought could help her, our advice. But she refused it.

And now, we all decided not to bother her with all our: "I told you!!" It is her live, her beliefs, and, although we don't agree with that, we'll let her live the rest of her life without negative energies... That's life.

So, I feel happy we'll all be together next week. But inside our hearts, I guess we'll be ALL thinking those will be her last Christmas.

We're confused, I am confused. But planning this meeting with joy, as she deserves. Apart from her dedissions, she is and has been sooo kind, so marvellous... Ok, she's a strong character, but all those things, put together, make her special.

The best present we can give her is being a BIG family, and sharing this time with her. So, in the end, I feel very, vey happy.

Sometimes I think: "Ok, maybe I am /we are wrong. Maybe her possitive way of life will that cancer disappear, who knows". In short, my sould needs to feel that hope. Why not?

On the other side, my brain says: "Oh, God! You have to be prepared for the worst things! If you are not prepared, it will be harder!"

...

...

You know, my husband and I, we'll prepare a delicious meal, a recipe from my mom!

----

You know, she has prepared, with the help of Ana, our niece, some kind of presents game. We call it "el amigo invisible" (The invisible friend). Sure you have a similar version in your country! It is all about a draw where everybody is assigned a person to whom you have to give a present, for a small price  (not more than 5 euros). Nobody knows who's going to give him/her a present!

...

Let's be possitive!

(Picture by Malene Thyssen -from Wikimedia-Commons.org)

After a long day...

here I am!!

One o'clock in the morning, watching some tv... well, my husband is watching tv! and finally, I had some time. My time! I have been looking for a free mp3 flash player to embed on my Spanish article, but I thought... Hey! Stop! You can do that tomorrow! (As tomorrow, that is, today, Monday, here in Spain, we celebrate a religious festivity, and it is a national celebration, so... no office!!)

Ok, to the point, this is the first time, today, that I find some time just for me. And no, I don't think that's sad, all the contrary. I have spent most of the day with my family. I had two online hour classes with two students of mine, and after dinner, I realized there was a long time I hadn't posted here.

So, just to tell you... No matter how busy you are: please, try to find some time just for you. That's essential! And what's more important, enjoy every minute, every single moment, with your family, with your friends, at work, at home.

So, my question would be... Do you try this from time to time? If so, how do you feel? ;-)

(Image: Lassitude (Elles)- by Toulouse Lautrec // Wikicommons)

Cooking, cooking cooking!!

I like cooking, but when anything you love to do becomes, for some reason, an obligation,...

(Photo by Peng - Wikimedia Commons)

Spain is quite famous for its gastronomy, healthy and tasty. In fact, we all have learn from out mothers how to cook simple but delicious meals... Well, some of them not so delicious! haha!

Our everyday meals, at home, include legumes, vegetables, meat and fish. And olive oil is a must! Apart from giving your dishes a special taste, olive oil is also very good for health.

We all know children don't like much those horrible vegetables, right? So, for example, if I want my son to eat brocoli, I cook it with potatoes, some onion and carrots. He hates all those pieces of food on his plate. What I do is simply make a purée, not too thick, just enough to be eaten using the spoon. The final touch will be some cheese, the kind of cheese you use on pizzas. Cover the surface of the purée with some cheese and due to purée heat, the cheese will melt. It works with my son! What a difference! And in case of preparing purées for little babies, just add a fresh, peeled tomatoe, and wit ill be much more tasty.

So, to the point: I love cooking, and this country has a good gastronomy history. I have to cook, in the evenings, the meals my son and husband will eat the following day. (I eat everyday at work). And, although it means having less time to make other things (like, for example, beeing here writting or reading your blogs!!) I do it with love, because I care for their diet, and always try to cook the best I can, and what's more important for me... with love. :-)

So, in case you have no time during the week, try to have some time to cook for your family, if this is something you don't make very often. Enjoy it and do it with love, that's one of the best things you can offer your family!

As a finall note, tendency to obesity has increased a lot during these last years, and is becoming a problem in Spain. Lack of time obliges us (and I confess I include myself!) to eat fast food, pizzas, and to buy precooked food, which is not good at all for our health.

So, whenever I can, I cook some "elaborated" dishes and buy looots of fruits! As my son says, fruits are natural sweets!

(Spanish strawberries, image by Isue (Wikimedia Commons)

Happy Thanksgiving, from Spain!

Oh, yes! I know I'm in Spain, and we do not celebrate it, but anyway, I want to wish you a happy day.

In fact, it is not just the name, the tradition, but the idea, the feeling. As far as I know, you say Thanks! for having all you have, specially your family. And that's the point. What is really important and great, is having a concrete day to say Thanks!, something I guess we haven't got in my culture.

So, enjoy it! And say thanks! because you have, again, today, the possiblity of being with your family.

And follow Laurieboris advice "Holiday Traffic Drive you Crazy?"  It's very good!

On the other hand, I guess others in your country (US) prefer to celebrate Thanksgiving in a different way! (See Cereals "My Thanksgiving Tradicion")

So, no matter how you celebrate it, enjoy!

(Image:  "A Hymn of Thanksgiving", composed and written by Fanny J. Crosby and Ira D. Sankey, sheet music cover.) (Wikicommons)

Hello from Spain

Oh yes! Maybe these green letters... Yes, they are shouting: "Hope!" Because hope is something we must always keep with us. It is no easy, but it is not impossible.

Well, first of all, excuse me if my English is not perfect. My native language is Spanish; I was born and live in Spain. So far away from America, from so many different countries and cultures, but, on the other hand, so close to you all, moms from all over the world. This section is giving us the chance to communicate, to talk about us, about our families, HOPES, about our daily problems and/or joy. So, in fact, we are not far.

And now, it's the moment to tell you about Angeles (that's me!). As said above, I live in Spain, I am married and have a son. He is eleven. We may be considered as the typical Spanish family. But I don't like that word "typical". In fact, from my point of view, we are not so... typical.

(Photo: My son and our dog "Freaky")

But I won't tell you now. I have time. We have time. As I am considering this opportunity (writing here, at pnn.com) as a way to express myself, something not easy in "real life" (let's call it that way). Oh yes! This is real! I know! But, for some reason, I feel I can open myself in a different way. Maybe, because you, my reader are probably a mom.

It is late. And, as you may imagine, I'm tired. But I admit I'm really enjoying this short time, writting about something I never did before. That is, about myself!

So this is just the first post and hope to be here as much as possible. Please! Tell me about you! This (my) new "adventure" promises to be very interesting and exciting!