Dos Tortolitas and a Partridge in a Pear Tree ~ BanderasRojas

I rested up all New Year's Eve Day and had enough energy (and then adrenaline) to enjoy our evening with Gonzalo, Elena, and their warm, charming, and welcoming families from Sevilla and Barcelona. Sadly, the quality of my photos is indicative of my fogged head, but I think you can see what a great time we had celebrating our second New Year's Eve (Año Viejo) in Spain. What an honor and joy to be included in their celebration.

AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE (Y UNA PERDIZ PICANDO PERAS DEL PERAL).
THAT'S ELENA'S GORGEOUS MOTHER MONSERAT NEXT TO GONZALO. A BLUR OF MOVEMENT.

San Geraldo every year loves to lead in the singing (and dancing) of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." None of our Spanish friends had ever heard of the song. San Geraldo printed out copies for everyone and led a sing-along/dance-along. We all had a ball. As you'll note by the translation in the above caption, we had good reason to sing the song in English.

SISTERS ELENA AND FATIMA.

MORE BEAUTY. CARME (ALBERT'S AMAZING MOTHER) AND IVONNE.

At midnight, the Spanish tradition is to eat one grape for every chime of the clock. If you succeed, you will have a good year. The stores all sell special 12-packs of grapes for the occasion, but they usually have seeds. San Geraldo doesn't like grapes with seeds. Elena and Gonzalo bought His Highness his own special tin of New Year's Grapes without seeds. Everyone else toughed it out.

Still no hot water. Still more leaks found. But, today, I don't care!