¡Felíz Año Nuevo!

Just a few photos of the Christmas lights in the Zócalo in Mexico City.








I wish all my blogger friends a great New Year's celebration. It has been a wonderfull year with so many new friends. I thank you all for the time to comment on this blog, and I'll see you next year.

Lots of love from,
Angie (in Mexico)
¡ Felicidades!

De Regreso a Casa.

Back home.

We spent Christmas in Mexico City with my husband's family. He is one of ten children (five women, five men), so there was quite a crowd at the table on Christmas Eve.
In Mexico the celebrations for Christmas starts on Christmas Eve. That is the day the big dinner is prepared and eaten close to midnight. Many people go to Midnight Mass (which ia usually at 10 p.m.), and dinner afterwards. It is also the last Posada.

Family started arriving at my mother-in-law's house at about 8 p.m. You can imagine, lots of kids. By 10 p.m. everyone who was going to be there had arrived. In total we were only 26 people since some of my husband's brothers, sisters, and other family members were spending Christmas Eve with their spouses. There were 15 members of the family who were not there, but they would arrive the next day.

We started with asking for Posada, then the Piñata, and finnaly the dinner. Afterwards each member of the family (starting by the smallest) said a few words. At midnight hugging and wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. And at last we read the "gifts" Baby Jesus gives us with his birth. Unfortunately my camera's memory got full right after the dinner, and I didn't want to start tinkering with removing old photos at that moment.

But it was a beautiful evening, sharing with family. Oh, and the menu. Christmas Eve dinner is a combination of food from three worlds-
-Stuffed turkey, although Mexico had always had wild turkeys, the stuffed version comes from our Anglo neighbors. The stuffing is made with ground beef to which olives, raisins, and acitron is added.
-Then Bacalao a la Vizcaína which is salted codfish cooked with tomato sauce, chopped onions and garlic, olives, and chiles. This dish comes from the Spanish ancestry in Mexico.
-And Romeritos con Mole. This is a dish prepared with a plant that resembles the rosemary plant, though it is softer and juicier. It comes from the suaeda or seepweed family. It is cooked with very small potatoes in a mole sauce and served with shrimp patties. This is a Pre-hispanic dish
All of this is accompained with dishes such as spaghetti in cream sauce, and bread.

So here are some photos.

First asking for Posada. Everyone has a small
candle and sings.

Lighting the candles.

Outside the house, getting ready to ask for Posada.

Dara...

Ariel...

Lucero...

Ian...

Moises...

Andrea and Angel...

Mireya, brother-in-law's wife singing...

Ready to go in...




Then the piñata.
Everyone gets a chance to hit it.
This piñata was full of tangerines,
oranges, and sugar cane.

In my mother-in-law's patio.
The smaller kids are lined up waiting for their turn.

Dale, dale, dale no pierdas el tino porque si lo
pierdes, pierdes el camino....

Ya le diste una, yale diste dos, ya le diste tres
y tu tiempo se acabó...

Mauricio with his "spike" from
the piñata full of fruit.

Emiliano is happy with what he got.

Ariel with his hands full.

And the dead piñata...




Then dinner...

Getting ready to eat.

We had to take out the furniture from the living room
to put two long tables in which we would all fit.

Next New Year's Eve. We will spend it as the small family we are, at home, and eating some delicious green Pozole.

Hope your Christmas Celebration was great, and that the New Year brings you lots of happiness, love, and health.

Angie (in Mexico)

¡Felíz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!!
(Lights in Downtown MexicoCity)

Nacimientos

The Nativity Scenes or Creche.

In almost all Mexican houses you will find a Nacimiento under the Christmas tree. If the family is poor, and there is no money for a tree there wil still be a Nacimiento.

The typical Nacimiento is put together little by little. First the family will get the main characters: Baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the tree Kings. And each year they will add other characters depending on their economic possibilities: cows, hens, donkeys, etc. All these pieces are bought at the market. There are so many figures in so many sizes. Some are very elaborate like ranchers milking cows, and pastors heating food on an open fire.

Two weekends ago we went to a Baptism celebration at the town of Abasolo. In front of the small church were many stalls selling Christmas tree decorations, but mostly figures for the Nacimiento. Here are the photos, and at the end are the winners of the giveaway...
(Click on the photos to see them bigger)

This is the altar of the church where
the baptism was celebrated.

The church was not very big, but I liked
the altar very much.

Here are some decorations for Christmas trees.

Lots of shiny stuff...

And here are the stalls. In front of the stall
are boxes with different types of paper.
The paper is not for gifts, it's for the nacimineto,
the blue paper is for the sky and the redish ones
are for constructing rocks and caves
around the birthplace.

There are small submergible pumps used for
making rivers and waterfalls.

Palm trees and bushes.

Cactus, oxen, pastors...

Sheep, pigs, hens, ducks, geese....

Water bearers, jar sellers...

More water bearers, sheep, donkeys...

A milkman, milking his cow.

A wooden cart with earthenware jugs...

A vegetable vendor...

The devil cannot be left out
with a bag of money showing avarice..

Some turkeys...

I like the cactuses behind this
woman selling baskets and jugs.




A fisherman at a creek...

More rock paper....

Shooting stars to show the way to the newborn King...

...and, of course, Baby Jesus.
In all sizes.
In most nacimientos the baby is put
in his place at midnight on the 24th.



Here is a big Nacimineto in one of our
town's Churches.



As you can see, the place for the Baby
is empty.


The Baby will be put in his place
during Midnight Mass on the 24th.

Now for the giveaway.
I want to thank everyone for all the beautiful comments recieved. I loved all the memories you shared. I really enjoyed reading them.

Now the hard part, hard because I'd love to send everyone a gift but only have four to give.

Since we spent part of the day driving to Mexico City to spend Christmas with my husband's family, I decided to have the winners chosen the old-fashinod way. I wrote the names on pieces of paper and had my mother-in-law and sister-in-law pick out the lucky numbers.....

The slips of paper in a ceramic
basket my sister-in-law painted.

Picking the winners.

Congratulations
Christephi,
Juanita,
Barkley's Mommy
and IndyPoppy.


I will be sending them from my hometown
next week. Please send me your e-mail
so I can get in contact with you and get your addresses.

Thanks again to all of you, and thank you Pam for connecting me with your blog.
Take care, and I'll be back soon to post some photos of Mexico City.
Hasta Pronto....