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jennifer rose

Nov 26, 2006, 6:16 PM

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'tis the Season

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Costco's had the Christmas merchandise out since August, freshly cut pine trees guard the entrance to Walmart and Comercial Mexicana, and the season is upon us, even it it doesn't officially start until Guadalupe's big day. There's just nothing quite like the the old Yuletide in Mexico. What's your favorite part about Christmas and New Year's in this country? And if you're not at home in Mexico, where's the best part of the country to spend those times?

Bubba

Nov 26, 2006, 6:33 PM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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What's your favorite part about Christmas and New Year's in this country?

Its blessed ending.

If God thought this was a good way to celebrate his man child, he now knows it was a cheesy idea. Go buy that new T.V down at Liverpool, y´hear me boy? What a glorious way to celebrate the evolution of the blessed despoilers of the globe and their supposed savior. Thank you Jesus!

(This post was edited by Bubba on Nov 26, 2006, 6:37 PM)

Ron Pickering W3FJW

Nov 26, 2006, 6:38 PM

Post #3 of 23 (2853 views)

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Re: [Bubba] 'tis the Season

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where's the best part of the country to spend those times?

Way back in the mountains away from the crass commercialization. I'm with Bubba....... :)
Getting older and still not down here.

HHERRINGTON

Nov 26, 2006, 6:45 PM

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Re: [Bubba] 'tis the Season

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Bubba you are confusing the pagan celebrations that most Christians adopted for celebrating Christmas, and the fact that merchants have pirated the season with what God wanted.
----------------------------------------------------

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moonfam5

Nov 26, 2006, 6:51 PM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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We usually spend Christmas in Cotija, Michoacan. I love the pernigraciones, getting together with all the family out in the street where we set up tables with food and drink and share our lives with those on the block. I love going out to the families that are in the outlayng ranchos to deliver toys and blankets and food to those who don't have what we have. And as for Bubba, look at the story behind the story. Christmas is not the commericalization of Santa Claus, etc... it is Emmanuel, God with us. Merry Christmas Bubba!
Wink

The more I learn, I less I know.

Judy in Ags

Nov 27, 2006, 7:44 AM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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This will be our fourth Christmas living in Mexico and so far we've alternated between spending Christmas here or with our kids in the U.S. (That wasn't planned--it just happened that way). We'll be staying home in Aguascalientes this year. We have a lot more friends than we did two years ago, which will make Christmas even more enjoyable.

Saturday evening, the 23rd, we will spend at the little Bible church that we attend. I hear we will be eating tamales and drinking atole and many of us will bring desserts. There will be a program with various groups--women, children, youth, etc. playing instruments and singing. Even my husband, John, will be singing "O Holy Night" (in Spanish, of course) and I will accompany him on the piano.

Other festivities will include spending some time in the homes of our friends (Mexicans and Americans) and inviting them to our home. Of course we will be able to call our kids in Washington and Denver, and our siblings and my dad, and our favorite friends (or even our non-favorite ones ;-)) in various parts of the U.S. or even in Brazil. Using either IConnectHere or Skype is so reasonable that we can talk for hours if we wish.

Rolly

Nov 27, 2006, 9:11 AM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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I dug out my Santa cap this morning although I probably won't start wearing it until after the 12th -- Guadeloupe Day. My white hair and beard are both long and fluffy in preparation for the Season (as always, my last hair cut was on July 4th). I'm already getting "HO HO HO" and "Santa Claus" calls as I drive down the street.

Rolly Pirate

MariaLund

Nov 27, 2006, 10:09 AM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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I remember fondly my Mexican Christmas vacations both in Rosarito, where we (my hubby was still alive and reasonably well at that time) used to have a condo, and later in Riviera Maya. Mostly because there I could escape Christmas cooking and Christmas eating. I get soooo bored with traditions - any traditions after a while (never understood how people can put up with routine without howling to the moon for change, any change.... but I digress), but traditions in which I am expected to participate by cooking and cooking the same ol same ol, be it Polish, German, Swedish or American, get me nearly depressed. If there is some particular Christmas food in Mexico and I were to be fed it year after year and then was supposed to cook it myself ( god forbid it being time consuming in preparation, because then I would howl pretty loud), I would get bored with it and resent it, like I do other culinary traditions, but in Rosarito I feasted on lobster for a week (it was a culinary news for me at that time - we had shrimps and big crawfish in abundance in Sweden, but not lobster) and in Akumal I don't even remember what I was eating - it was so unimportant - I only remember spending most of my time under water, snorkeling, swimming among colonies of fish in the lagune and exchanging it for swimming in cenotes. I loved those Christmases with no traditions. ;-)
Vivere non est necesse, navigare necesse est!

(This post was edited by MariaLund on Nov 27, 2006, 10:21 AM)

Gringal

Nov 27, 2006, 10:44 AM

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Re: [Bubba] 'tis the Season

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I'm with Bubba.

Once upon a time, there was a perfectly fine Christian holiday at this time of year. Before that, a good Pagan holiday. Whatever; it was a celebration of the occasion.

At the end of a trip this year, we were in El Paso, Texas for Thanksgiving. Other than selling food, the merchants haven't managed to totally co-opt that one. However, the local paper on Thanksgiving was very, very heavy. Mostly ads.
The front page announced the opening times, ranging from midnight to 5 a.m. of the local stores.

The next days' paper covered the camping, pushing, shoving, crying and general incivility at the stores all over America. Black and Blue Friday. What has the U.S. become? It's looking like extortion on a mass scale masquerading as expressions of "love". What message is that giving to the youngsters growing up?

Geez, I was glad to get home!

sfmacaws

Nov 27, 2006, 2:33 PM

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Re: [Gringal] 'tis the Season

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I was happy to be able to leave behind personal celebrations of Christmas, I never liked it much and once we started traveling I just stopped dealing with it. Last year we left Akumal on Christmas eve and went to Chetumal (Calderitas) on our way to San Cristóbal. We spent the night on some friends land and had a nice breakfast with them in the morning but I don't remember anyone mentioning that it was xmas day.

This year we will be in Akumal but I don't plan on doing anything special. I do enjoy the weeks leading up to xmas, the Guadalupanos running with torches on the roads and the kids coming to the door and singing really fast for a donation for the school.

If I wanted to enjoy the xmas festivities, I'd go to Mexico DF or another large city where the decorations are spectacular and the masses at the big cathedrals equally impressive.

Jonna - Mérida, Yucatán

MazDee

Nov 27, 2006, 9:51 PM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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I gave up celebrating Christmas in the US years ago. But, since coming to Mexico I am involved again. I really like the outpouring of love and generosity this time of year. I try to contribute what gifts I can to the orphanages, the boys' home and to other people who would have no Christmas otherwise. On December 9, I am looking forward to the Desayuno de Pollo. No, they do not serve chicken at the breakfast. It is a fundraiser for a project started by a well-known local family about 17 years ago, to provide a Christmas dinner to poor families. Last year, bags of groceries (including a chicken, beans, rice, cooking oil, etc) were delivered by volunteers to over 1500 families. Almost all the donors are Mexican, but a few from the foreign community have joined in. This is where I see the spirit of Christmas.

Bloviator

Nov 28, 2006, 3:08 AM

Post #12 of 23 (2634 views)

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Re: [sfmacaws] 'tis the Season

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I have not given up on Christmas, but plan to either travel NoB to celebrate with family or celebrate it in a Mexican style.

I had a great experience when moving from CA to Ajijic. When I unloaded my fifth SUV load (crammed full each time) of Christmas stuff at the Angel Store - in March, a great time for them to be able to sell such stuff - one of the volunteers sneered at me that she "can't understand how anyone could not celebrate Christmas." As I was giving them mountains of Christmas stuff, it should have been obvious to her that we did celebrate Christmas.

I read somewhere above - or elsewhere - that there is a law requiring manger scenes to be in every home ??? Among the stuff we gave were about four beautiful manger scenes. Now will have to go out and buy at least one new one. Hope it doesn't include cohetes.

Georgia

Nov 28, 2006, 7:15 AM

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Re: [jennifer rose] 'tis the Season

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Here in our village, I enjoy the posadas: we usually host it one day each year and the kids are a hoot! I like that it's not as overdone commercially as it is in larger Mexican cities and in the US. When I see the shopping frenzy news on tv I am very grateful to be here. We spend Christmas Eve in Tlaquepaque with Mexican friends who live there and we have the midnight tamales. I usually give my children and grandchildren one simple gift made by Mexican artisans. I find these gifts give a nice balance to their electronic lives. My granddaughter, now 21, still has her straw dancing doll from San Cristobal on the south side of Lake Chapala, in her dorm room at college. Grandma's $2.50 gift competes nicely with the iPod.

And I give them one other gift: a plane ticket to come and visit Mexico with the message that seeing them all together is the best gift I can have. This year five of our kids, respective spouses, children, and so on, will light up our house at the holidays. I guess we'll be about 15 in the house.

I hired a cook.

Daisy

Nov 28, 2006, 7:45 AM

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Re: [Georgia] 'tis the Season

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Brilliant ideas, Georgia (especially about the cook!). Where will you sleep them all? My husband and I have been doing something similar with our three kids and spouses: providing one big family vacation a year. So far, they seem to be thrilled by the opportunity to travel and spend time together. For us (and them, I hope), time together trumps anything material we could buy them.

Georgia

Nov 28, 2006, 7:47 AM

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Re: [Betty in KY] 'tis the Season

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We have a big house that sleeps fourteen comfortably, and then we bring out the Aero beds!

tony

Nov 28, 2006, 1:27 PM

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Re: [Bubba] 'tis the Season

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Hello,

Actually Jennifer and Bubba you bring up good examples. In Mexico it is still a religious
holiday and not a commercial one! In addition to the posadas, families have a midnight
meal on Xmas eve. Traditionally there is no gift exchange. Gifts for the kids come in
Jan and even that isn't the big commercial event as it is in the US. So Bubba if u don't like the
capitalists version (NOB) of it, you are a great spot to celebrate it another way.
Funny how looking at another culture can make us look at ourselves differently. Tony

BTW my Mexican wife does't care for Xmas NOB. She also dislikes the way every holiday NOB
is celebrated by going shopping for something materialistic.

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are."

MazDee

Nov 28, 2006, 5:06 PM

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Re: [tony] 'tis the Season

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I am sorry to say, Tony, that the retailers are working hard at making Christmas a commercial holiday down here. By Halloween (which has become a big deal here too) the stores are full of Christmas decorations and toys and Santas. I hope the old traditions survive, but I think it will be more difficult with each generation. And who am I to say what is best? I am a guest here. I must say that I got a big laugh a couple of years ago at a supermarket, where a giant-sized Santa with moving parts was "singing" The Yellow Rose of Texas!

jennifer rose

Nov 28, 2006, 5:24 PM

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Re: [tony] 'tis the Season

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Don't misquote me, Tony. <g> I want gifts, and lots of them. Send me your excess and unwanted gifts, and I'll regift them.

Walmart's temporary toy building has been up since late last month. Day of the Kings is a major blowout, with the trucks bringing in loads of toys. The aguinaldo having been long since spent, my maid will be asking for another loan.

I've spent Christmas Eve with Mexican faimilies who did nothing after the Christmas Eve meal, those who've proceeded directly to unwrapping everything under the tree, and with who maintain that Christmas is for the big family gift like a new computer or something the kids "should" receive, reserving Day of the Kings for the toys the kids "want." Some houses didn't even have the legally mandated creche. I'd have to stay that Christmas celebrations are all over the board in this country.

tony

Nov 29, 2006, 8:21 AM

Post #19 of 23 (2437 views)

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Tradition - Box store style ;>)

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Funny how big the "push" to "celebrate" comes from commercial interests. In the last 16 years
we have noticed a big shift towards Gringo style celebrations. Not that long ago there was no Halloween
and Santa was exotic. We now hear of people dressing up for Halloween - but alot of people don't know
what the heck to think about it. Santa is well known but doesn't exactly fit into the celebration - yet.

My 2 centavos is that the communities that have alot of people NOB have a stronger tendency
to bring back the Gringo traditions. (Guadalajara Jalisco for ex)

And here NOB Cinco de Mayo has become an unofficial "Mexican" holiday. It is funny to see
Mexicans here celebrating a mexican holiday NOB when they wouldn't do it in Mexico!

Jennifer , you are right when you say the Xmas celebration is still all over the board in Mexico,
better to enjoy these traditions while we still can.... Tony

"We don't see things as they are, we see things as we are."

song_of_joy

Nov 29, 2006, 7:18 PM

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Re: [tony] Tradition - Box store style ;>)

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Interestingly, anthropologist Oscar Lewis documented the trend toward Christmas trees instead of the traditional creche, and Santa Claus instead of the Niño Dios in the early 1950s (in "Five Families," this example somewhere around 1953). He also noted a tendency toward hotcakes for breakfast instead of foods based on maize, beans and chile.

Lewis mentioned TV and travel by the affluent as contributing factors, and documented this only in a wealthy family in Mexico City's Polanco neighborhood.

And you're so right about 5 de Mayo. About 10 years ago, I went home to take care of my mother. The nearby town of Arcadia, Florida has an important Hispanic population, probably many of them migrant workers in agriculture. We noticed that Vicente Fernandez was performing there as part of the holiday festivities.

Gosh! And when I'm in Mexico, it's just another work day.

drfugawe

Nov 30, 2006, 9:09 AM

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Re: [Rolly] 'tis the Season

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Damn, you make a fantastic Santa! I think you should start a tradition down there in your little town - go out and get a mess of wrapped candies, and on Christmas eve, put a big chair in the back of a pickup, and drive slowly thru town throwing out candy to the kids. I'll bet both you and they will love it.

I'd love to see that!

Enjoy the season, Rolly.
John
_________________________

"Self-respect: the secure feeling
that no one, as yet, is suspicious."
H.L. Mencken
____________###

esperanza

Nov 30, 2006, 9:45 AM

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Re: [drfugawe] 'tis the Season

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In Reply To

I wonder if the CocaCola people in Lerdo aren't already doing what you suggest--not with Rolly as Santa, unfortunately, but with someone else in the role of good St. Nick.

Here in Guadalajara, huge Coke trucks outlined in Christmas lights roam the neighborhood streets in the early evenings starting on December 16. Mexican Christmas carols boom joyously from speakers mounted on the trucks, Santa ho-ho-ho's and throws candy from his perch high on the back of the trucks, and we all lean out our doors and windows to watch the truck cruise slowly by. Children run to catch the sweets Santa throws. It's a longtime tradition in our beautiful city.

I hope Lerdo enjoys the same tradition.

http://www.mexicocooks.typepad.com

Rolly

Nov 30, 2006, 10:12 AM

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Re: [drfugawe] 'tis the Season

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A few years ago on a warm afternoon near Christmas, I sat on a bench in the plaza dressed as in the picture. In just a few minuets, I was swamped with kids. Where did they come from so quickly? It got so out of hand that I had to leave. There are no Santas on the streets or in stores in Lerdo, so the kids all thought I was the real thing.

The same thing happened another Christmas season when I was taking pictures at a tortillera for my Tortillas webpage. This time I was not dressed like Santa, but the white hair and big belly were still there. Somehow the word spread through the barrio that Santa was at the tortillera, and soon the place was full of kids. Again I had to leave so the store could conduct business.

My church had a Santa suit made for me so I could be Santa at the Christmas party. They had to make a new costume because I am so much larger than the guy who used to play Santa.

I'm thinling of taking a little sack full of peso coins the plaza to give to the kids just before Christmas.

Rolly Pirate

(This post was edited by Rolly on Nov 30, 2006, 10:13 AM)