king's day!

So, the 6th of january was king's day, and what a day! my whole family came over and we had a good time together, it had been a long time since all came home, normally we would go to my eldest sister's house since she has 7 kids and it's harder for her to come over. but this time she came! along with her whole clan, LOL!
anyway, since some of you might not know the history or the meaning of king's day, i'll make a small account of it.
so, the celebration of king's day is a spanish tradition that comemorates the visit of the wise men to baby Jesus, and give him the gifts they brought, but this celebration can also be found in countries that have had spanish influence, such as latin american countries, or our neighbour France. in Spain, King's day is a big deal, it's a nationnl holiday and it still counts as part of the christmas holidays. so, it all starts when a few days before the 6th of january, the kids write a letter to the wise men, telling them what they would like as presents, and that they've been good during the year (note that this was before any Santa Claus appeared... just that the westerners liked the idea of our king's day and added many of it to their Santa Claus...) on the 5th of january, there is a big parade in almost every city, town and village, where some people dressed as the wise men go out in the streets passing out sweets and presents, you really have to see it one day, it's super fancy and all the streets are packed, all the parents with the kids go out. it really is a very very fancy parade. it lasts for hours. so, in the night of the 5th, the wise men come and leave the presents for the kids to open them in the morning of the 6th. also since they are working soo much during the night, it's a custom that the kids leave water for the camels, and some sweets for the wise men to gain strength to endure the whole night :P some also leave some drinks for the wise men, such as anisette, an alcoholic drink.
so if the kids have been good, the wise men will bring them what they've asked, and if not, they bring them coal. but don't be fooled, this i no normal coal :P it's made out of black tainted sugar, so it actually is nice to eat, LOL. and let's not forget about the all time famous "King's roll", eaten just on this specific day in the homes all over the spanish geography. it's traditional, this one was made by Ely, and tihs year's it was good ;) inside you put a surprise like a little figurine, and whoever gets it on his piece of the roll keeps it. also it's traditional to put a bean inside, and whoever gets it, pays for the king's roll ;). here a picture of Ely's masterpiece:


now that the history and the customs behind the festivity have been told, i'll pass on to tell about the day that we had. so as i said somewhere up there, all my family came over except my second older brother and his wife who is due to give birth anytime, we were a grand total of 19 people, my eldest sister Jenny, her husband Jan and her 7 kids, my eldest brother Cesar, his wife Marta, and his 2 kids, and my second eldest sister Ana and her kid.
here a picture of my sister Jenny and all my nephews and nieces around her.


we had a good day, filled with kids running up and down, a few things getting broken due to their hyperactivity, and some even getting injured for playing like monkeys on the trees of the garden :P but no worries it wasn't that bad, a few stitches solved the problem.
the presents were opened and happy faces were seen all around, and kids playing everywhere with their new shiny toys of games, modeling the new clothes, or learning and fooling around their chemical interaction equipment.


afterwards they even did a small play of the nativity scene, with Elaine taking the role of the angel bringing the good news, little Dani beeing Joseph, Sharon playing Mary, Richard as Gaspar, Arthur as Melchor, and Dani as Baltasar. and let's not forget about the stellar apparition of the stuffed porcupine as the main character! Jesus! :P




to end here are some more random pictures that i thought were worthy to be seen by all of you :)

this first one was taken before opening all the presents.


this is the end result of having 10 kid opening up presents in just one room.. looks like the remnants of a riot coused by an angry mob!!


next are some pictures of kids opening up presents and their faces of happynes :D, the first one is Coco carrying one of his presents :D HOW CUTE!

and the next fella in the pictures is Alan, carrying and opening his presents.


the following pictures are of Danini, aint he lovable??? :D specially dressed up as Joseph :p he is the best kid ever! hoenstly! and i know quite a few ;) he is just soo sweet to you, and so funny, and cute, and fun to be with! the Lord really blessed my sister Anna with him... aaah... i want to have a kid like him! he also loves cars and motorcycles, and watches all the formula 1 races and motorcycle GP's that he can, he's a real fan of Alonso, Pedrosa, and Rossi, now THIS IS A BOY!


now, don't be fooled and deceived by the look of innocence and "i'm-a-nice-guy" expression spread all over his face, for he is the rascalliest little 2 year old ever!!! ooh if i started telling you of all his adventures..... let's just say that once he put a clock inside a microwave and turned it on, you can guess the end of this adventure, the microwave exploded.... LOL anyway, here he is. Adrian with one of his biggest and sweetest looking smiles ;)

here Adrian is with his cousin Arthur, another really nice calmed and super duper cool capricorn in my family, (one out of the 6 capricorns that we are in our family and we're all super cool :p) he is very good with computers, a pro with computer games, and he's only about 8! he'll be a computer savyy in a few years, following the footsteps of his dad :), he's also very sweet and gentle, and he's the personal relationships guy for their family ;)

in the next picture he's acting as Batman, he has this thing for superheroes... wear a superman t-shirt and he'll go hyper!, show him something green and say it's Hulk's and he'll love it.


this one next, is cute Erika, older sister of Adrian.


and we find her here again posing for a pic with her cousin Elaine, and the rascal in the back :D
now... what might he be thinking... nothing too good i suppose, maybe scheming his next plot to destroy the earth :P


now some neat pictures of coco! his name is actualy Christian but we call him coco affectionately, h'es the toughest guy i've ever seen! he's soo big for his age, and no matter how badly he falls on his adventures, how hard he knocks his head, he doesn't cry! only eventualy when he's too tired he will, but if not he will jsut stand up and keep walking, a completely determined true capricorn :p you may also see some videos of him who elly so graceously and kindly uploaded for everyone to see, GBH! ILY Ely!


he doesn't waste any time at all!! LOL :P





and to end, 2 pictures of the pinkiest and princessy gal i've ever seen, this is my friends, my niece Sharon! she really thinks she's a princess :P if she does smthg bad, she'll tell, you.. oh, but ti doens't matter because i'm pretty :p she uses to go to her mom's room and steal her lispstick and eyeliner and that stuff that ive forgotten what it's called like, that gooey stuff to put colour to your nails... anyway, the point is that she steals it, and hides it in her room and then uses it when no one is looking, and puts lipstick all over her face :P really cute. this is her:
aint Ely looking pretty? :D anyway, if u don't like the picture just tell me and i'll take it down.
LY!