Easter Eggs

Our Easter fun really started on Thursday when A good friend and her son came over to deccorate eggs.  This was a first both for Emily and 5-year-old Nico.  Last year at Easter my sisters were here and Emily wasn't old enough to really know what was going on so we dyed the eggs ourselves.  This year I wanted her to have some company, but of the people I invited, only Nico and his mom were able to come.  Easter is a busy time here and most people are ocupied with processions, etc.  Still, we had a fabulous time just the four of us (and Bela).  I was grateful for our little plastic table that didn't absorb dye!  The paper towels we used to mop up spills were almost too beautiful to throw away, and the eggs themselves came out quite nicely. :)

Thursday there is also another procession in town.  I was ready to clean up the egg paraphernalia and call it a day, but when Emily and I headed out to walk Bela and she heard the music in the distance, she began begging to go see the "pums" (drums).  Of course I caved in the end because I love that she is so musically inclined  So after our walk, we changed out of our campo clothes and got dressed up to go down to the main street in town.

At Semana Santa, at least in small towns like La Roda, there is always a man pushing a big cart selling junk snack food (generic cheetos, chips, nuts and gummy candies), cheap plastic drums and trumpets, balloons, and other random but equally poor quality toys.  His presences clashes full on with the religious esthetic of the festivities; but he is always there, tailing the procession through town at times, or parking for a while on a particularly busy corner to do business.

You can imagine that the streets are full of kids with their Sponge Bob, Peppa Pig and Dora the Explorer balloons.  They run around honking their shiny, plastic bugles and stuffing their faces with saturated fats and simple carbs.  This is one aspect of Semana Santa I absolutely abhor.  Aside from the obvious health reasons, I just hate the consumerist mentality that acccompanys these kinds of pointless purchases: buying garbage just because it's there!

On Palm Sunday, a friend insisted (against my pleas) on buying Emily a Peppa Pig balloon.  She had seen them, of course, when we first arrived at the procession, and had pointed them out to me.  My reaction had been simply to say, "Oh, wow!  Those are pretty, huh?"  But of course when my friend noticed her observing the balloons that some other kids were holding he said, "Do you want a balloon? I'll buy you a balloon!"  And so Peppa Pig was floating in our house all week and into the beginning of this one.

At Thursday night's procession a similar situation played out when another friend insisted on buying her a crappy little purple robot dog that yaps and walks.  It's eyes glow fluorecent green and it's tail glows red.  It wears a little pink hat and has a pink and red bow on each ear.  Everything about it is hideous!  It looks demonic and the barking is extremely annoying.  However, this friend's nieces had one each and when Emily was attracted by the obnoxious barking and deamon-green eyes, my friend of course decided that she must have one too.  This, in my opinion is far worse than the balloon--just a true piece of trash that costs a pretty penny and to top it all off is irritating!  But even threats that I was just going to throw it away couldn't dissuade her from her purchase.  We are now the proud owners of a possessed purple puppy.  Oh, and Emily also scored some nasty cheeto-type chips on the deal as well (those did get thrown out immediately).

You may think I'm extreme as you read this...  Or maybe you're shocked by the Spanish disregard for parents' opinons/preferences/values.  Yes, maybe I am a little extreme.  And no, Spaniards don't give a hoot about parents' opinions in these and many other cases.  Of course, niether of these singular incidents is going to corrupt my child.  I do know that.  But to my mind they are reflections of a profound illness in society.  Disregard and disrespect (because that's what it really comes down to) for parenting aside, I want to teach my daughter to value money and what it can buy.  It is not something to be thrown about thoughtlessly to satisfy a fleeting whim.  I want her to care for the things she owns, rather than getting caught in the throw away and replace cycle that consumes so many people nowadays.  I do my best to buy her quality toys, books and clothes for just this reason.  Above all, I want her to be her own person, not someone who looks at others and their belongings as a means to measure her own self worth. 

Admiring herself in the mirror

What really bothered me about both of these situations wasn't what was bought.  I actually, in some way was happy that my friends love Emily so much they can't resist buying her a little something special.  I know that their intentions were good, but then, you know how the saying goes...  It wasn't even that they completely and shamelessly were going against my express will NOT to buy those particular things.  No, what really upset me in each instance was the fact that they were foisting upon my daughter desires that she herself had not expressed (and which I'd just as soon she didn't!) along with a value set completely opposite to my own. 

If you ask a two-year-old, "Do you want a balloon?" you'd better be ready to buy one because of course the answer will be yes; but a child this age is too little to know in the first place that having one herself is even a possibility (unless you're already in the habbit of indulging your kid this way)!  I hate those kids who beg and cry and pull at their parents to buy them this or that, but it's exactly moments like these that create those future tantrums.  Emily would have happily played with my friend's nieces little robots and when it was time to go, that would have been that.  She would have admired the balloons from afar without a whimper.  But what my friends inadvertantly were teaching my daughter is that if someone else has it, she needs it too.  Disgusting.

 Sorry.  Enough raving...back to the week's celebrations.

Heading out the door.

I mentioned in a previous post that Emily was going to dress up for Friday's procession.  In her purple tunic and white cape, with those killer blue eyes and a big purple bow in her flaxen hair, she was more of an attraction than the pasos! (Is that blasphemy?)  Seriously, though, she was the total center of attention and loving every minute of it.  Everyone was cooing over her and taking her picture and she was telling everyone who'd listen how guapa she was. :)

Emily is a very sociable little creature, but I was surprised by just how independant she was during the procession.  As I said, she was talking up a storm and it didn't much matter to whom; but she was also going off with all kinds of people to look at the pasos or babies in strollers.  They weren't strangers, of course, but she's usually not so keen to just up and go with people who aren't family.  The nazarenos, the ones wearing tall, pointed hats with their faces covered, give out little pictures of the Virgen or Jesus to people watching; Emily collected about fifteen of these!

On Easter Sunday we ran into a friend from Seville and her family.  She has twins born just three days after Emily.  I invited them to come to the house for an egg hunt and was so happy they agreed.

Emily greeted the girls at the door with a chocolate egg each and then we hid our dyed eggs around the patio.  It was such a hit that we hid them a second time. :)  Then we adults spent the rest of the morning sipping beer and wine, munching cheese and picos and observing the three of them running around the patio, playing with (and sometimes arguing over) Emily's toys. 


The twins are in day care and anyway they have each other's constant company so they are very used to other children and the necessary possesivness that comes along with "sharing" toys when you're two.  Everything was mío, mío.  Emily (unfortunately) learned very quickly.  Even with a few scuffles, it was a wonderfully relaxing morning and such fun watching their little personalities interact.  

Happy Easter!

Sara, Eva and Emily :)

The Last Snow of the Season

Mama and Emily hunting for snow

It's Semana Santa and that means a week vacation for me! :)  I'm doing my best to milk it for all it's worth...sadly, tomorrow's already Thursday. 

Monday we went to the pool and got things taken care of around here: cleaning at the bar, stocking for the weekend, etc., Tuesday was a stay-at-home day (those are good now and again), and yesterday we took a day trip up to the mountains again.  We wanted to get in one last visit to Frosty Snowman before the season's over for good and I think we were just in the nick of time.  There was very little snow as we've had no precipitacion for several weeks now together with record high temperatures.  On the mountain it was only 16ºC and breezy--slightly on the chilly side--but on the drive home the car thermometer read 30ºC!  Even without the snow, I think the drive would have been worth it just to beat the heat!

As it turns out there was actually a great patch of grey-brown snow clinging to the mountainside on a perfect sledding angle.  Once again, we had out sturdy plastic sheet with us and got in lots more sledding even than last time.  The snow was actually easier to form balls with than last time, too, so we were able to quickly build a little family of miniature snowmen for Emily.  She for her part, was more interested in eating the filthy snow than anything else...so Angelines and I took turns sledding while Emily ate mineral encrusted ice off the ground. (I promise we aren't negligent mothers!)

Em's feet got wet so we slipped her mittens on for the walk back.

We packed a gourmet picnic and feasted among the rocks and scrub at the edges of our snow field.  As I said, the day was chilly with the breeze blowing, but the sun shone so hot that I was fine in a T-shirt with just a wind-breaker on top.  The icy snow did seem to penetrate more than the powder we had last visit.  We were all a bit wetter when we finally headed back to the car, but it was a fantastic day, and of course we had brought a change of clothes for everyone.

...And the rest of the week is going to fly by...

Midnight tonight is the beginning of the most important processions here in town and Angelines has dressed and gone.  It's the first time she's dressed in this procession in about 15 years she estimates due to conflicting work schedules!  This year she decided to close the bar.  I'm glad she's finally able to do it again.  Meanwhile, I am here with a sleeping baby waiting up for her return.

Tomorrow, aside from a procession, Emily and I are going to be dying Easter eggs. :)  We've invited a friend over, too.  Maybe we'll do some hunting in the patio as well.  Emily has become a Peppa Pig fan and recently saw an Easter episode in which Peppa and all her friends were hunting for chocolate eggs that Grandpa Pig hid.  She was pretty excited when I told her we'd do that, too.  At the supermarket on Monday we saw a chocolate Peppa Pig Easter egg and snuck one into the cart.  So Sunday she'll get a big choco-atay (her word for chocolate) egg surprise along with some good hunting fun.

Friday is the day that we've dressed Emily for the procession. It's silly, I suppose because she doesn't actually participate, but she's just so cute!  Her auntie got her clothes all put together this year again so she'll be donning the purple tunic and white cape again this year to accompany "el Anol" (el Señor--the Lord), Jesús Nazareno, during his procession through town.  All of Angelines's family gets together on Friday evening, too since the procession passes by her mother's house.  I am anticipating some homemade arroz con leche as an evening snack. ;)

The weekend will be spent cleaning up after what I hope will be some good nights for business.  It's hard to tell because even though there are loads of people from out of town, our bar is a bit hidden and people tend to stay with the processions.  We've made advertisements with maps indicating the bar, so maybe that will make a difference.  The truth is that plenty of people would actually not mind getting away from the crowds for a bit if they only knew where to go.  So Saturday and Sunday will be spent sweeping sunflower seeds off the floor and sidewalk...

And there goes my week.  It's great to be home though, just cooking and organizing and enjoying my girl and the good weather.  Even if we don't do anything else for the rest of the week, I'll be a happy camper.

Happy Easter, all.

Selfie on the way back. :)