Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays, everybody!
It really is the season of light around here--you should see the way they dress up the plaza mayor.
Yeah, they've got this silly fake tree with a huge green pipe for a trunk--
Well, I think it's kinda cute, even if it is kinda tacky.
You never did have much taste, Brown Bear!
That's not a very generous, Christmasy spirit, Honey Bunny! Maybe you're unhappy because Mom and Did didn't give us any presents.
It's true. I am disappointed.
Well, they had a hard time feeling Christmasy this year, what with Paca's death....
Gee, I guess you're right. I shouldn't have been so selfish.
Listen to you, Honey Bunny! I guess you've learned something after all.
I have, I have! I remember the Christmas Carol and Scrooge and I don't want to be that way!
Right you are. There are more important things than presents. Like love and friendship.
You are SO right, Brown Bear! We wish you a happy holiday--
And lots of light!

The Passing of Paca

Mom's feeling sad.
Her "Spanish mom" just passed on.
Paca was 82 years old.
She'd been doing poorly all summer, and last month they finally diagnosed that she had an aggressive brain tumor.
Mom's really feeling sad.
Want to talk about it, Mom?
I really loved Paca. I've known her since 1981. I decided to do my fieldwork based in Sahagún because she and her family (her husband Sergis and the kids, Piedad and Pedro) were so welcoming. When I moved here in 1982 with Jesse (he was 12), they took us in and helped make everything happen very easily. I would spend days visiting with Paca, hearing stories about how things used to be, her family, growing up with a widowed mom, struggling--I think she left school in 3rd grade to help with the family. She was SO full of life and enthusiasm--and stories! She was to "go-to" person in Sahagún if someone wanted to know about the history of the town, long ago or more recent.
She was really something, huh?
She was. See the photo of her dancing at the hermitage in April with her daughter? She was still walking to the Virgen del Puente hermitage outside of town (3 miles, round trip) this summer. She would welcome pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago and give them her famous galletas de hierro (a kind of pizelli cookie) and orujo.... She was SO vital and friendly!
And her kids adore her. To see how they have been caring for her in the hospital--such a close, loving family. I think most of us have no idea what it's like to be so close--Paca was still cooking and eating or visiting with or working with one of her kids every day--even though the kids are in their 50s! And Piedad's kids still slept in her apartment on weekends. The irony is, we came back to live in Sahagún because Paca was here.... Such a loss. I miss her greatly. I'll never forget her saying, "We burned the monastery!", referring to an event that happened in Sahagún in the early 1800s....
We're sorry, Mom.
Yeah, we really are. I guess it really is hard being alive. You die.
You said it.
But on the other hand, you get to live.

All aboard the Transcantábrico!

Mom says we should just go to bed, now that we're back from our luxurious Transcantábrico train ride along northern Spain, but I just can't go to sleep without sharing our adventures with our adoring public!
Honey Bunny, I think Mom's right.
Who's side are you on? After all, we had such a good time, so much to tell people--
Okay, okay, just get on with it.
Well, in fact, much of it was kinda boring. Mom wouldn't let us out to meet anyone except the wait-staff until the very last day--she said she didn't think the Spaniards on the trip would understand about us.
Boy was she wrong!
I know--we had a rave reception when we were let out of the bag!
Indeed.
But we had a great time anyway, didn't we?
Indeed.
I mean--that luxe bedroom at the 5-star Parador of Los Reyes Católicos in Santiago de Compostela.... with a canopy on the bed.
It was a 500-year-old pilgrims' hospital. Really posh.
I do like posh. And then we had our own private compartment on the train. They called it a sweet. And it was!
You mean a suite. Actually, it was Mom and Dad's. But they share it with us. And it wasn't a suite. It was a cabin with a bathroom.
The website called it a suite.
It sounded better that way. But it was very nice. And the bathroom shower was also a steam shower and a massage shower!
We got to watch some gorgeous countryside roll by. Mom put us next to the big window at the foot of the bed.
But we didn't get to sleep in bed with them.
There wasn't room. In fact, Dad couldn't quite stretch out all the way.... The train is a narrow-gauge train, and they could only make the cabin just so big and still have room for people to walk down the corridor. They did the best they could.
Good thing most Spaniards are shorter!
And the food was good.
How do you know?
I heard Mom and Dad moan and groan about how they ate so much they were gaining weight.
Yeah, they had a lot of fun. And Ana, the tour guide, was wonderful! That's her in the dark blue outfit, with dark hair and a big smile, holding us in the Hotel Londres in San Sebastián. 2nd photo from the top. Not only is she cute, but she speaks four languages: Spanish, English, French, and German.
Simultaneously.
Sequentially.
Whatever. Maybe it is time to go to bed....