Merry Christmas from Tió Nadal!

I thought Tio Nadal meant Uncle Christmas because “tío” means “uncle” in Spanish. But, it turns out that “tió” means “log” in Catalán, which makes a lot more sense, since it is a log! A shitting log, if you remember from my prior blog post about this.

The children beat the log (which has a face and wears a traditional catalán red cap as well as a blanket to keep him warm) until he shits their presents. The log typically shits candy and treats. Of course.

I bought a stuffed log, instead of the typical wooden log. It seems more loveable. And I’m not going to beat him.

I went to the town’s tree-lighting ceremony last week. For a euro, I got a glass of champagne and a baggie with a chunk of angel food cake. There was a disc jockey playing mainly pop music, with a few Christmas songs thrown in, and a lot of the small children were dancing and having a grand time. There were lots of dogs there too (though not my ill-behaved ones).

I enjoyed feeling like a member of the community, and not a tourist.