Anyone from Spain knows the very famous advertising slogan: “Ya es Navidad en El Corte Inglés“, whose American equivalent could be something like: “It’s already Christmas at Macys“. El Corte Inglés is the most important department store in the country. One day, the company decided that Christmas had to begin a little earlier - somewhere around October 31st - and they launched the “Ya es Navidad en El Corte Inglés” campaign. As you can imagine, we, Spaniards, embraced the idea with our whole hearts, incorporating the phrase in our conversations, and running to the mall when El Corte Inglés mandated. But shopping is not the only activity that Spaniards do at Christmas, we also get together with our family and friends in order to share comidas y cenas (lunches and dinners). These have stayed, so far, in the same spot of the calendar. Not every family celebrates the six following festivities with a formal comida o cena, but mine does; so here’s what I have written in my Moleskin agenda:
- Nochebuena (Christmas Eve): Cena el 24 de diciembre a las 21:30
- Navidad (Christmas): Comida el 25 de diciembre a las 14:30
- Nochevieja (New Year´s Eve): Cena el 31 de diciembre a las 22:00
- Año Nuevo (New Year´s): Comida el 1 de enero a las 14:30
- La Noche de Reyes (The Three Kings Eve): Cena el 5 de enero a las 21:00
- El Día de los Reyes Magos (The Three Kings): Comida el 6 de enero a las 14:30. (More about The Three Kings in the next blog post).
Remember that when giving dates, there is no shortcut, and you need the article el and the preposition de. To say the time, you need a + las or a + la + una (at 1:00).
Not happy with sending us shopping for Christmas gifts by the end of October, El Corte Inglés decided that we needed new spring clothes by mid January. That is why, once more this year, right after the Christmas decorations are down, you will start to hear: “Ya es primavera en El Corte Inglés” (It´s already spring at Macy´s). Enjoy the holidays, quick, before they’re over!
¡Felices Fiestas! Happy Holidays!
