And for those of you who have requested a post about that other Catalan Christmas tradition, the Tió: go here – you get all the other Spanish Christmas stuff too. Go here for Part 2 and here for Part 3. By the way: it’s tió (teeOH) meaning log,  not tío (as in uncle /guy’ – [...]

Yes, the shopping centres are crawling with Papa Noels and you can’t get through the door of the Euro shops for all-singing, all-dancing Christmas tree tack. True, El Corte Inglés seems to kick off the season a week or three earlier each year. And yes, the advertising on television for toys, perfumes, aftershaves and watches [...]