Pessebre vivent, Pals

I took so many photos today, I was spoilt for choice -- close to 200, although after I'd deleted the obvious duds there were only about 30 left.

This morning was just glorious. We went to Llafranc to admire the view from the lighthouse, and then to Calella, where we sat outside along with dozens of other people, for a very pleasant lunch of lots of different tapas and white wine. It was so warm and sunny that people were sunbathing on the beach and swimming in the sea. Pinch yourself -- it's Boxing Day!

In the early evening we went to Pals for the pessebre vivent (living creche scenes). I really wasn't expecting much from this, but we thoroughly enjoyed it. The whole village was basically turned into a selection of at least 30 tableaux, ranging from Moses through Abraham to, of course, nativity scenes, with live donkeys, sheep and cows. There were scores of people involved -- a very substantial percentage of the population of the village -- and it was very well organised.

As well as biblical scenes there were dozens of tableaux of traditional crafts: blacksmithing, cork-making, baking, basketwork, making espadrilles, baking ... Quirkier scenes included a bunch of agitated young demons, "heaven" (a sea of white fluffy clouds populated by a gaggle of lively cherubs with a couple of adults attempting to supervise them), a number of angels, and these three young ladies who were accompanying the three kings. I ended up choosing them for my blip just because they were a bit more original than the other photos in my blipfolio.

We ended up spending close to two hours strolling through the village, and when we got home I hastily revised our dinner plans, keeping people going by plying them with white wine, jamón, and pan con tomate while I cooked up a very good risotto with the remains of yesterday's capon and its stock; it was well after 9 o'clock by the time we sat down to dinner. Very Spanish!

I've not had much time to read and comment, but I will catch up eventually!