Holiday Plans

• What will you be doing for the Holidays (Christmas, New Years, 3 Reyes Magos)?  Where will you be going, and who will you be celebrating with?  Any special food?
• Any recommendations for my family and I?  We will be in Sevilla for Christmas, and Madrid for New Years.

Current Events / Spain and it's separatist tendencies

- Can you explain what, precisely, is going on with Catalonia's efforts to separate from Spain?  The history of this desire, what is happening now, what you think will happen. What would happen to Spain if they did separate?  What would this do to Spain's image as a country?

- Can you speak to Spain's separatist tendencies more generally--do you think that each Autonomous Region really feels a sense of loyalty to itself, rather than Spain as a whole? 

- Could you compare this to other countries / their various sense of unity or division?

(Here is an article if you care to read it: Catalonia clashes with Madrid over independence vote)

The Economy:

If you have time, this article was just published in the New York Times.  The first link is in English ("When we were poor before"), the second in Spanish ("Los Besos en el pan")

English: When we were poor before

Spanish: Los besos en el plan

The Spanish title seems fairly idiomatic.  Could someone explain it?