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Ed and Fran

Sep 20, 2004, 5:36 PM

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Can Christmas be far off?

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Don't know how it is where you live, but down here in the lesser provinces we started seeing the first Christmas stuff in the stores 3-4 weeks ago. Just a trickle of Christmas themed glasses (I suppose they could have been 'plastics') and minor knick-knack type stuff. Then 2-3 weeks ago came the first strings of Christmas lights. Two weeks ago the banner signs for lay-away plans, but with the big Santa Claus proudly beaming down. (Disclaimer – People who don’t like WalMart can skip the following couple of sentences). This weekend we were in Puebla, and went to the WalMart there. Astounding the amount of Xmas stuff on display, and they were putting out more as we walked around.

I can remember (well I can almost remember) when we thought that Xmas stuff shouldn’t be put in the stores before Thanksgiving (U.S., not Canadian). Then we kind of accepted it, ‘…but not before Halloween…’ I thought that having it show up before Independence Day (Mexican, not U.S. or Canadian) was pushing it a bit. But hey, time seems to go by faster these days, so maybe it will seem like just a short time until it gets here. :-)

The town ayuntamiento faked me out a couple of weeks ago. Saw them putting up strings of colored lights and I thought, now that’s really jumping the gun. Forgot that they were putting up lights for Sept 16th!

Funny enough, our route to Puebla brought us through Chignahuapan, Puebla. In that town, about every third store sells Christmas ornaments, ‘esferas’. This is where they make ‘em folks. We had to stop (of course) even though we have more ornaments that we can fit on our tree. Turns out they make them by hand (they’re blown glass, so maybe it’s ‘they make them by mouth’) including all the painting. They work all year making them and looks like about now starts the sales season. While there we did our bit to help the local economy. We would have bought more but the Blazer was already about full.

Neat little place. Mark it down on your list of places worth a short detour if you find yourself in the north of Puebla.

I actually thought that most Christmas ornaments were mass produced in China these days, bwdik. Maybe those are just the ones they sell in WalMart.

Regards

E&F

satman

Sep 20, 2004, 10:53 PM

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Can Christmas be far off?

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As the owner of three businesses in Mexico, one of which is a store of "artesanias",
I can assure you that mid-September is the ideal time to begin to stock a store with Christmas items. Seasonal items tend to move slower SoB than NoB, where we all wait until the last minute to buy everything. Mexico does not celebrate Thanksgiving (U.S. or Canadian). There are two holidays between Mexico's Dia de la Independencia and Christmas. These are Halloween and the Dia de los Muertos ( day of the dead). We do stock minimal merchandise for these holidays, as they are important in Mexican culture, but Christmas es Navidad. The majority of our fourth quarter sales (75%) come from Christmas decorations, gifts, wrapping paper, bows, etc. It is only logical that in the Mexican society, one must begin to sell these items a little sooner in the year. The majority of Mexicans tend to live on a daily budget and a lay-away mentality for larger purchases. As far as time going by faster, well, that happens to us as we grow older. My grandfather always said, "Young folks are in a hurry to grow up, and old folks are in a hurry to stay young." Go figure. It's all about what the local demand requires as far as what you will see on store shelves during any particular time of the year.

Christmas really isn't that far off, Santa told me so. I just hope he doesn't decide to retire in Ajijic. If he wants to go SoB, we should all chip in and buy him a place in the South Pole.
SATMAN

"Some will bitch about a dollar, while there are those without a dime."

jennifer rose

Sep 21, 2004, 7:16 AM

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Can Christmas be far off?

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Costco in Morelia puts out its Christmas merchandise in mid-August. Walmart always has a big Fiesta Patria display, down to an aisle specially designated for Mexican food items like canned pozole (not just the hominy but the whole soup), tri-color marshmallows in the shape of a bandera, chilaquile mixes, and instant frijoles.

Tlalpujahua, on the border of Michoacan and Edomex, is known for its esferas, blown from silicon rod imported from Brazil. I've seen boxes designated for Dayton-Hudson stores filled with those Christmas ornaments. Last year the local newspaper mentioned that it was having a very difficult time competing with China in ornament production. One of the owners of a major esfera factory even went to China to explore why, returning convinced that it was simply impossible to compete. Consequently, the esfera industry is becoming an endangered species.

Carol Schmidt

Sep 21, 2004, 7:29 AM

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Re: [Ed and Fran] Can Christmas be far off?

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I remember seeing a Christmas window display in Marshall Field's in mid-August when I was a kid and being shocked. Now such early displays don't surprise me at all. The Gigante in San Miguel has a lot out already, and I saw quite a bit at Costco a few weeks ago.

We bought a whole bunch of reed woven Christmas tree strings and wreaths while we were at Patzcuaro last week, primarily at a little town called TzinTzanTzun (may be misspelled, but it's pronounced, "Sin soon, son." Do it now, not later.) I bet that town has Christmas decorations year-round, just like so many year-round Christmas specialty stores have sprung up in the U.S.

For eight years I lived a few miles from Bronner's in Frankenmuth, Michigan, which was world-famous as supposedly the largest Christmas store in the world, and they made the window displays for fine department stores and the big street decorations for many cities. We once had thousands of dolalrs worth of hand-blown glass ornaments imported from Venice, Italy, purchased at Bronner's, but we gave them to Norma's daughter when we moved into the full-time RVing life, and then the ornaments were destroyed when the daughter suffered a house fire that destroyed all she had.

The woven reed ornaments were definitely made in the Patzcuaro area, famous for its reed animals and sculptures. I would have never thought of putting reed anything on a Christmas tree, but this year we sure will. Our car was packed with souvenirs, too.

Carol Schmidt

tonyburton

Sep 21, 2004, 7:39 AM

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Re: [Carol Schmidt] Can Christmas be far off?

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I love your pronounication guide! It's actually Tzintzuntzan = "place of the humming bird".
Hissed through the teeth, the word will still attract hummers today.