Dec. 27, 2007 - Update
Wow, it has been a loooong time since I posted! So many times I started to type something, but had to leave in the middle and never did get a chance to continue. I'm not even going to bother catching up on most of it. I'll just start from where we are. :)
It has been CRAZY around here (and not because of Christmas!). Hubby was gone for a week, then back a few days, then gone a couple more to pick up a team of students (just 3 actually, lol!) and then back with them to build a house. We also moved our trailer from the campground to my SIL's yard (which is soooo handy), and then had Christmas here while hosting the group. Oh and my brother and his wife and other brother and his girlfriend arrived here Christmas Eve and stayed a week. Then the group of students left (and hubby for a couple of days) and we all started getting sick (sinus infections) so that kept me off of the computer for a while. I'm still sick and desperately trying to get better as my parents are arriving in two days to visit us for a week. I really don't want to be sick when they're here! Oh, and yesterday was my birthday, but it wasn't very exciting as I was feeling so awful and spent much of the day napping.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Mine was amazing!! The students built a house for a sweet family here and we dedicated it to them on Christmas Eve. What a beautiful time that was! I will never forget it. We brought all kinds of gifts for the family, things that had been donated from people in Canada or purchased by the teenagers who built the house. There were clothes, toys, candies, bedding, towels, etc. The family was so thrilled! Then Irma (the mama) cooked a meal for us - pozole soup - which we ate in their new house, sitting on upside down buckets for chairs and using their only 2 candles for light (there is no electricity in their neighborhood - and they wouldn't be able to afford to pay for it if there was). They were soooo happy to host us and Irma kept apologizing for not having more food or not being able to cook something else (she had really wanted to make tomales for us, but didn't have enough money for the ingredients). It was really humbling. Earlier in the week we had purchased groceries for the family because the only food they had left in their house was a few tortillas and some beans. Can you imagine if that was your Christmas dinner?
After the meal, we sat outside around a campfire and talked under a full moon. It was huge and beautiful. Someone told me it was the biggest the moon had appeared in 20 years and it wouldn't appear that big for another 20. I'm not sure if that's true, but it was pretty big! I'm glad I got some nice pictures of it!! The whole night was so surreal. I can't describe how I was feeling that night, but I know I will always remember it as one of my most special Christmases.
After returning home, we discovered how the Mexicans here celebrate Christmas Eve - very LOUDLY, lol! We fell asleep to the sound of constant fireworks, fire crackers, homemade firecracker / bomb thingies, LOUD music and hysterical dogs barking. The fireworks and fire crackers are very common here on weekends, but I've never heard anything like I did Christmas Eve! They were NON-STOP all night long. I woke up at 3am and heard them still going. Lying there in bed and listening, I realized I that it sounded exactly like a war movie soundtrack. There were so many going off it sounded almost like machine gun fire at times! Then there were really loud blasts and long ones, short and fast ones. If it weren't for the overly loud Spanish music playing (at 3 different locations nearby - all competing with each other), I think I would've started worrying that we were under attack! We woke up pretty tired Christmas morning (to the sound of the fireworks still!).
Christmas Day was really nice. The boys opened their gifts from our family in Manitoba while the family watched them with the webcam. Technology is really amazing! It was really special because my parents really miss their grandchildren - especially at Christmas time so the webcam really helped. It was so nice to watch their faces (my parents) as the boys opened their gifts. At one point Charlie was trying to eat a sucker with the wrapper on - I wasn't paying attention as I was taking pictures of the other boys. My sister and my mom were telling me (via the webcam) to help him with the wrapper, lol. It was almost like they were here for a few minutes... almost.
We did an adult gift exchange as well (Chinese style). We had each been given 100 pesos (about $10) to buy something at the market for the exchange so the gifts were all really neat. I bought a hammock, a toque and mittens with my 100 pesos and received the Cranium game (which I'm dying to play!). It was a lot of fun. Afterwards, we headed to the beach for the afternoon while our adopted grandparents from Canada (there are 4 of them who come down each year and stay for a few months) began dinner preparations. They had invited nearly everyone they know here for dinner so there ended up being over 30 people! It was quite a nice mix of Canadians, Americans and Mexicans speaking both English and Spanish, and such good food! At the end of the day we pulled out the piñata(it was a Santa Clause, lol!) and had a great time beating him to a pulp (so wrong, lol, but my kids really didn't care as they barely know who Santa is). We had a great time and the boys went to bed thoroughly exhausted at the end of the day!
Charlie woke up boxing day by throwing up in my bed so I spent most of the day taking care of him (the beginning of this endless sickness). We had a few relaxing days with my brother, his wife, my other brother and his girlfriend (who became his fiancée New Years Eve!).
New Years Eve we took my brothers to a nice restaurant on the beach (which is where my baby brother proposed to his girlfriend), then returned for a good family game of poker in the trailer while we listened to the warlike sounds of firecrackers and fireworks and, of course, the LOUD music (again, at three locations, competing with each other about who had the loudest speakers I think!). At midnight the Mexican people are allowed to shoot their guns off for five minutes (pointed upwards of course) so we listened to some of that for a while. Of course, everyone's clock is a little different so it wasn't just for five minutes. The tradition in Mexico is to eat 12 grapes at midnight (one for every chime of the clock) and make a wish with each one. I went outside with my camera to get some video of the fireworks going off everywhere and the sounds of New Years Eve.
New Years Day we headed to the beach again for a picnic lunch. The beaches here have a really neat kind of seaweed and I can't find out what it is called. It has large bulbs that are hollow in the middle. It's hard to describe. Anyway, the men discovered that it carves up nicely and started making all kinds of fun creations out of it. It was pretty funny! Next time we're there I'm going to bring some home and dry it to see how it turns out. And of course we had another piñata, but this time it wasn't ours. We have become quite good friends with our neighbors here (who speak some English - praise God!) so they had us over so the kids could help with their New Years piñata. Our kids had a great time and I couldn't believe how much candy was stuffed in that lady!! There were probably close to 10 kids there and each of them took home a good sized bag of candy (think Halloween!), as well as some of the adults. We are so blessed to know this family though. My boys are so thrilled to have some kids to play with (although the kids don't speak English) and they seem pretty happy to have some friends nearby too. It's so fun for me to watch them communicate with each other. I'm hoping my boys will be learning a lot more Spanish now that they have friends speaking it to them all of the time! I can't believe how much they've learned from these kids already - how to make a kite (paplote), play sports the Mexican way, and much more! I am going to learn how to make tortillas from Angelina - the mama. I've been making tortillas a while, but they never come out just right. So, anyway, that was our New Years!
Oh, and, exciting for me, I forgot to mention that when hubby went away last time, he came back with a Wonderful gift for me - a brand new CAMERA!!!! My old one had really lived past it's time and was not taking good pictures anymore (not reading light properly, some settings weren't working, etc.). I am soooo enjoying this new camera (A Canon Powershot S5 IS). It's such a good camera. I have to admit, this is another reason I have been short on blogging time - I've been taking Hundreds of pictures and trying out all of the settings. I'm trying to remember how to be a photographer again. :) So, here are a few pictures from the past little while.
New Years Day 2008
Comments
Jan. 7, 2008 - Glad You're Back!
Posted by bitsandpieces
I was hoping all was well since you hadn't posted in awhile! Glad to see you're back! I LOVED reading about your Christmas and seeing your amazing photos. What a wonderful way to celebrate.
Carisa
Jan. 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by proverbsmama
Thanks for posting about how noisy the Mexicans are when celebrating Christmas. We are studying that area in geography right now. DD will find that tidbit of info interesting.
My cat will be very glad that we are much more quiet here! LOL! He HATES New Year's Eve, as well as the 4th of July.
Jan. 26, 2008 - your journey
Posted by lwood4him
Thanks for sharing your wonderful adventure with us on the blog site. I clicked on your link through the reference Jamin' gave you on the Homeschool Minute and I am so happy I did. We too are traveling the country in an RV with my husband's job and I just loved your perspective with each treasure you encountered. Be blessed and please continue spreading your joy!
