MONDAY, DECEMBER 24
For Christmas Eve, we stayed in Coslada for a sunny, warm and relatively relaxing day.
I bought a pork roast for Hazel and me and some giant pasta shells to stuff, both part of Spanish tradition. It would have been best if we had a slow roasted baby pig, but there is only so much you can do in an unfinished kitchen.
FROM GROCERY STORE THROUGH THE PARK
Our walk began at the Lidls grocery store, down a Main Street into a neighborhood of identical red brick, three-story, two-family homes. House decorations in this middle-class, comfortable and unpretentious neighborhood included stuffed Santas scaling walls and the Three Kings, also stuffed, dangling on a string from a window. A few people passed on the sidewalk. A woman swept her walkway. The smell of smoking food filled the dry air. Garbage bins overflowed, mostly with wrappings and boxes, most likely from gifts snugly hidden under beds and in closets.
The street came to a roundabout — fountain surrounded by landscaping. Identical houses continued on the other side. We turned right; the single-family homes became fairly large, the architecture strangely globby, a bit like oversized homes in Queens but with strange rooftops.
At the bottom of the incline was a park, one of many in Coslada. It must be beautiful here in the summer. Lights, which we’d seen lit the night before, lined the wide, dirt paths. The trail wound up a hill of pines and through wild rosemary and small trees, a stark desert landscape. A few men walked their dogs; a runner passed.
LUNCH IN COSLADA
The town of Coslada was on the other side of the park. Our gym was closed, so we decided to eat at the restaurant Chloe and I visited two days before. But this time, we ate outside; the tables on the broad sidewalk, next to another park, were crowded with people gathered to celebrate Christmas Eve, the beginning of the holiday that lasts until January 5. Excitement charged the air. People drank beer, congregated outside bars, spilled into the streets. It felt like the congregation of one huge family. People double parked everywhere along the streets, children played with each other while adults of all ages stood on the broad sidewalk, far beyond the usual parameters of the restaurant/ bars.
BACK IN THE APARTMENT
Back at the apartment, cooking began, and Chloe gave us a fashion show (we were trying to figure out what else she needed for Milan.) She was looking tiny and fit. She would be ready.
The Christmas Eve parties went late. We knew because at 2:00 AM, fireworks exploded outside our building, and in Coslada.
