JESUS & THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Christmas and New Year may be over but the celebrations here are far from over for children because los Reyes Magos (the Three Kings/Wise Men) have yet to arrive. And Jesús may not have been one of the winners in the recent Christmas lottery, El Gordo, but he’s nevertheless struck lucky in his home town in northern Andalucia where he’s spending the holidays. For this year he’s been invited to be one of the Reyes - an honorific title as important to him for his participation in this civic celebration as Mayordomo del Trono de la Virgen de las Lágrimas y Favores must be to Antonio Banderas for his during Malaga’s Holy Week.

So Jesús, together with all the other Kings, will parade across towns throughout Spain on the evening of January 5th before visiting households - like Santa before them - to leave yet another stash of gifts traditionally opened the next day. However, if children have been naughty in 2008, they get a piece of coal instead of the presents they asked for. Could this be one of the reasons Spanish children are so well behaved in restaurants and other public places - infinitely better than their British counterparts? Perhaps Britain should introduce this stick and carrot approach too …

To Jesús’s disgust, the European Parliament has even tried to muscle in on the Reyes Magos celebrations. Traditionally, the Roscón de Reyes ("Epiphany crown"), a sweet bread baked in the form of a crown, is eaten on January 6th and has always contained small toys or coins. A porcelain figure of a baby wrapped in foil and a dry bean are hidden in the dough together with other surprises. Apparently whoever finds the baby will have good luck and be the Rey of the party, but the one with the bean has to pay for the cake! (Spanish infants learn early on the art of winning and losing.) The European Parliament, however, recently approved a motion preventing toys being concealed in food items but this was circumvented in Spain by reclassifying the toys in the roscón as "trinkets"! Much to Jesús’s satisfaction….

THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD - THE OTHER EL GORDO!

With the increasing economic downturn here, lottery ticket sales for El Gordo (The Fat One) have bucked the trend among Spanish consumers who are having to cut back sharply. More Spaniards than ever are buying €20 tickets ahead of the big draw on Monday for one of the biggest lottery jackpots in the world - with €2.3 billion (£2.1billion) in prizes.

Spain is suffering the worst unemployment rate in Europe, at 12.8%, and one Madrid lottery office has said that some people were buying more than one ticket, risking all they had in the hope of winning a little money and solving all their problems. Just like Jesús.

Famously inveterate gamblers, Spaniards will take any chance to gamble. In every bar in the country, the fruit machine is a standard fixture and on each street corner there is a lottery booth. Figures for El Gordo tickets sold have not been released by the State Lottery and Betting organisation, but they have been rising steadily since Spain's troubles began after the crash of its construction sector last year.

Sales of the Euromillions lottery, for instance, rose by 16 % on 2007 and the Spring Gordo lottery sales increased by 9%. General weekly lottery sales rose 2.4 % until October, when people started concentrating on El Gordo.

The Christmas draw is the biggest of the year, attracting millions of Spaniards, as well as those - potentially - from around the world. In a sign though that Spain's economic gloom has even hit El Gordo, companies that traditionally gave tickets to employees as Christmas gifts have bought fewer this year. However, Professor Roberto Garcia, of the Carlos III University, Madrid, who has carried out a study of lotteries, believes El Gordo has been largely unaffected by the downturn because it brings society together and reinforces friendship and community spirit.

Not like Jesús then, having broken off his long-standing engagement with Dolores and staking his entire future on El Gordo - alone.