I finally could upload two videos of the tió, so if you want to see them, you can click on these two links:
video 1
video 2
For some strange reason, I can't post them directly on the blog!
By the way, the song and voices are Catalan...

Bubbles and paint

Sometimes we tend to buy sophisticated toys, but among the gifts from the tió, the simplest entertainment proved to be one of the kids' favorites: this thing to make bubbles. They're always amazed!

Cristina was also fascinated with paint, as you can see. But this painting box turned out to be a bit of a nightmare. See what 3 minutes of unattended painting frenzy will get you...

That strange tradition from Catalonia

I couldn't upload a video of the tió, so I'll post pictures. This is how it works:1-the kids go to another room to pray or say a christmas verse2-they come back and take a stick and chant while hitting the log3-when the song is over they check under the tió for presents4-they repeat the same thing until there's only chocolate which means the tió is done, and won't give anymore presents...Don't ask me how kids believe this! they want to believe is my guess! (Is religion as easy as that? Just wanting to believe and not asking logical questions??)

Would you believe this is a Christmas tree?

It is. And I can't help but associate it with it's owner's temperament, my MIL. It's dry, austere, gloomy... I can tell the colorful lightbulbs are there because, after all, it is Christmas, and doing something festive is a must, a chore, but one must never be too happy about it. Just the bare minimum of Christmas spirit.

Our tió...

We have set the tió again, "he" needs to be stuffed with food so that on the 24th, he'll... release lots of presents for the children!

happiness

Is this pill going to make me happy?

Is it going to bring back my motivation to do things?

Is it going to change the grouchy me into a sugarcoated mom?

Will it actually make me want to iron clothes, pick up the kids happily and do all my daily chores as if I were a character in The Sound of Music??

If it is, so be it...

Pic of the day: daughters playing at high speed

nice....

My co-workers again... but this time it's nice. They decided I need some time off and arranged for us to go have dinner someplace and go to see a movie. I need to get a babysitter for tomorrow!
It was actually so nice of them... I've been a bit down lately.

"Friends" at work

Remember I was mad at one of my co-workers (there's two actually working in the same department I am) because she had made an insensitive comment about the lunatic doctor in France?. Ok, things are quite good since I talked to them both. I explained I had been through difficult times, even a bit depressed, and didn't feel much like sharing our experience of epilepsy with anyone (or them, at least, but I didn't say that). They said they felt I was shutting them out. After the talking, everything returned to normal, but I just don't see them under the same light. I still don't understand why they would feel so angry because I didn't share everything with them. It sounds a bit childish to me. And I remember a sentence they both used when I talked to them SEPARATELY. "We just didn't understand why you were so distant, when we had been so supportive..." I just don't feel that's ok. If you choose to be supportive you just don't brag about it, in my opinion. You don't remind your friend how much you've helped. That's kind of... low. And they actually said they wouldn't ask me again how my husband was doing, because I was being so "touchy". Great. I don't mind their not asking, in fact I appreciate, but I still think they're being... childish. They have kept their word, and have never asked me again how he's doing, or how I'm doing. And honestly, I prefer that. I prefer keeping my distance. We're civil, we're polite to each other and even friendly at times, but it's different now. They used to be a bit too "helpful". They always seemed to know what to do, and they insisted I should talk to my husband and make him understand he just can't be working on the same schedule, because that probably puts too much stress on him. It doesnt. He's happy at work, in fact he loves it. And he's an adult, let him decide. My two co-workers are the kind of people who not only listen to your problems, but also have a "solution". "Their" solution. And that can be annoying when all you want is somebody to listen without judging...