For Christmas lunch, I returned to my grandmother's house in Matadepera. My whole family came so we were quite the crowd.
The fun part came right before the food when my younger cousins went to hit the tio. The tio is a log that has a face painted or pasted onto it. Then the parents put a blanket on its behind and usually a barrati (sp?) which is the traditional Catalan hat.
The kids then go to the fire or the stove to heat up the sticks and sing a Christmas carol to the adults. When the sticks are warm enough they run back to the room with the tio and sing a song to encourage it.
I don't recall the words of the song right now but it goes somewhere the lines of "poop tio, poop some almonds and turro, now I hit you with this stick!"
Hahahah it's too crazy.
Then the children lift up the blanket that is covering its behind and find whatever present the tio pooped out. Usually the last present is indicated by either some candies and turrons if the kids were good, or a potato or turnip if they were bad!
My cousins were really excited they got lots of toys and dolls and so on, but they also recieved an infernal cube that makes loud sounds and bright lights, everyone had to deal with it being played all the time in the house and in the car for the rest of the vacation.

After waking up late and arguing with my sister about who would shower first, we returned to Matadpera where my grandmother had prepared a splendid lunch for us and our cousins.  When we arrived it was still in the makings so my father and I decided to take Gaia (my grandmother's dog) on a walk. There are many charming little trails around the area because it all used to be farms or protected as a national park, so we walked Gaia around the housing developement of Les Pedritxes. We left a noisy trail since whenever Gaia walked in front of a gate that held a dog, it would start barking and so would all the dogs in the neighborhood.
When we got back my cousins had already arrived. My gradmother had made macaroni which she is famous for, so we all devoured every last spoonful. Every time we  eat lunch we end up spending way to much time, at least two hours at the  table for everyone.
Afterwards we agreed with my uncle that our cousins would come over to Terrassa the next day to have an "English Lesson" along with the daughters of one of my father's friends.

I got to my grandmother's house in Matadepera in the afternoon. Even so, I didn't do anything until the late day because I spent the day sleeping.
The flight had been long from Philadelphia (my most hated airport) with a connecting flight at Charles de Gaul. I thought I could just stay awake until night time, but I was so wrong! As soon as I sat on the couch with the warm fuzzy blanket I sank into it and fell asleep. When I woke up it was supper time. My grandmother prepared some nice warm soup and chicken and I was so hungry!
Halfway through my supper someoone knocked at the front door and... surprise! My aunt, uncle, and cousins had come by to say hello. They are wild children and we usually burn so much weight off when we play with them hahaha, but this time I just sat there and ate. They were pretty dissapointed.
We got back in the car to go sleep at my father's apartment in Terrassa. He already had the beds made, and of course right then I no longer felt tired.
Oh jet lag....

After the Berbena my father had a choir practice in the morning. For a concert on the 6th of July which I will play the violin for one of the songs. We made the trip down so that I could meet the guy who wrote the score for the peice, but he ended up not showing up. I listened to the choir warm up in the church of Matadepera where the concert is to be held. Then I called my grandmother to come pick me up. Every Sunday all my aunts and uncles on my fathers side of the family eat lunch together so today we had to be up in Matadepera anyway, so I stayed there and lounged around the lawn in front and then by the pool. I went for a swim, but in June the water is still cold. My aunt Maria came with her boyfriend Ernest and then my aunt Gemma also came by. Aunt Maria has a crazy dog named Nic, and I played with him for a bit.

 Anyway, since I never got in the pool and just stood around for a long time I got a little sunburn but minorly, I hardly ever get sunburned and when I do it's because I was hours under the Spanish sun. Lunch was really delicious, I have never had a fish so well prepared. First of all because you can't get any fresh fish in the US and also because my grandmother combined with her stove create amazing things.