Merry Christmas!!!

Officially we are on Christmas; here you have the most famous Christmas events in Spain

Spanish celebrations stretch from December 22nd to January 6th, yesterday was the day when the Spanish Christmas lottery draw took place (I'm sorry for all of those who have sent their ideas but we were unlucky).

Tomorrow Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena in Spanish (Goodnight) and it is the most important family gathering of the year (not for everybody). In the evening people often meet early for a few drinks (to get drunk) with friends then return home to enjoy a meal with the family. Prawn starters followed by roast lamb would be a typical meal rounded off with a typically Christmas sweet called turron or Polvorones. Cava or champagne, would be the chosen drink for the Christmas toast though plenty fine Spanish wines will also be consumed with the meal.

On 25th December - Children may receive a small gift on Nochebuena or this morning but the day for presents is 6th January, when the Three Kings bring gifts for the children. Another large family meal at lunchtime is common though it's becoming more common to see families eating out on the afternoon of Christmas day.

On 28th December, the equivalent of April's Fools Day takes place in Spain on December 28th, el día de los Santos Inocentes, Holy Innocents' day, when people play practical jokes on one another. Often the national media will include a nonsense story in their broadcasts.

31st December - New Year's Eve is known as NocheVieja. It is a big celebration all over the country with street parties and special nights in hotels and clubs everywhere. Until midnight people tend to stay at home and on the stroke of midnight it is traditional to eat 12 grapes, one on each stroke of the clock to bring good luck for the new year. In Madrid and other main cities revellers congregate in the main square (Puerta del Sol in Madrid) and eat the grapes along with a celebratory bottle of cava then head out into the night until after sunrise.

1st January - Hangover day for everybody

5th January - There are processions all over Spain this evening where sweets are thrown from the floats to all the people who come out to watch.

6th January - The Three Magic Kings, los Reyes Magos, are the ones who on the morning of January 6th, el Día de Reyes, bear presents for all the children, repeating the ritual they performed after baby Jesus was born (some families have decided to switch to Papá Noel on Christmas Day, arguing that this allows the kids more time to play with their toys).

After 6th, Christmas is all over for another year..You get back to work and children return to school.

One day to be millonaire

Hi everybody,

As I said in One week to be millionaire I have bought a number to play Spanish Christmas lottery, tomorrow all together we will be playing to win 3.000.000 euros. For now, I have just received a few ideas of what to do with the money. what a shame if you send nothing because you are shy ;-)

It's not too late, send your idea about what you would do with the money so if we win the first prize, one of those ideas will become true chesterfield.people@gmail.com

Keep your fingers crossed for a Christmas windfall

Cards for everything

When you spend in England enough time how to be part of the society you will begin to get a lot of greeting cards and you will realise about the importance of them.

In England you always will find a section in every supermarket, in every single store, you will also find some specialized stores fully selling greeting cards. You can find several categories such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthday Cards, Friendship, Thank You, Love, Sorry, Get Well, Party Invitations, Anniversary, Congratulations... even you can find cards to say you are angry-upset or delicate matters such as religion, sex or Gay-Lesbian, you will always find the right card for the feeling you are looking for. At the beginning this was really strange for me, as well as a friend who was travelling around Spain told me he didn't understand why he hadn't found any card shop there.

To be honest when I was a child I remember sending-receiving Christmas cards between family, it was always nice to get some of them but nowadays are just an article in disuse, now everybody gets a lot of e-cards or emails with impersonal messages, we have lost the illusion to buy a card, an envelope and write a nice phrase.

At this point I think, why English people is still using this amazing way to communicate feelings but then they just write a few words ("happy birthday", "I am sorry", "thank you", "Merry ") ??? If you ask them, surely their answer would be:

If I have to write hundreds of cards, won't expect that I will be funny and original...

One week to be millionaire

The Spanish Christmas lottery (The Fat One - El Gordo) is the biggest lottery in the world and also one of the oldest (1812). While the first prize is 'only' 3€ million, As measured by the total prize payout, the Christmas Lottery is considered the biggest lottery worldwide. "El Gordo" has the biggest prize pool of any lottery in the world, last year totaling over two billion euros!

The morning of December 22nd my mind will swimming the Caribbean Sea with my own yacht, drinking champagne with a lot of friends around.. You will think I am getting mad but if you compare the probability between winning the Euromillions (1 of 76.275.360) or Spanish Christmas lottery (1 of 85.000) you will see that with a little bit of luck, my dream would become true.

Now, here's the deal, I will buy a ticket for all of us, you just have to send an email to chesterfield.people@gmail.com with your idea about what you would do with the money so if we win the first prize, one of those ideas will become true.

Keep your fingers crossed for a Christmas windfall