diciembre: Feliz Navidad?

What comes to mind when I think about Christmas?

Two days of spending quality time with my family, snow, hot chocolate, fires, carols and Christmas music, Christmas cookies, lefse, a traditional meal in our cold and drafty dining room on our special Christmas plates, candle-light church service on Christmas Eve, opening presents until wee hours on Christmas Eve, waking up late on Christmas Day and spending the morning eating pancakes in our pajamas, and the ability to let our worlds stop entirely and focus only on our loved ones for two whole days.

What was Christmas for me in Mexico?

I woke up on the 24th to a typical day in Mexico. It was warm and the sun was shining and Sarah and I hit the road for our power walk through the pretty “Jalisco / Club de Golf” route. Weird, as soon as we left the house we found that all the stores were open and bustling with the same come and go traffic of Mexicans out buying things and running errands. Wait a minute, I had to check my watch. Yep, it was Christmas Eve day.
Nothing changed for the majority of the day – everything entirely normal and routine until late at night. Mexicans celebrate Christmas Eve late with a dinner around 9 or 10pm. So to change things up, Sarah and I went to her host family’s house for the dinner. They prepared ham in a chili sauce; cod in a chili sauce; baked turkey; a rendition of egg and potato stuffing; a sweet “salad” of shredded carrots, apples and raisins in a sweet cream sauce; and some fresh bread. Nothing seemed typical – and where was the lefse or cookies?! We ate and then all gave a toast (talk about linguistic pressure for the foreigners!) and then told some jokes. Wine and tequila were shared with everyone and after awhile, everyone went home. I got home to my empty house because Marce was out celebrating with the family of one of her sons-in-law, Victor. All alone I sat in my room on my bed and opened the Christmas presents sent in a package from my parents and cried. Well, it might be one of the most depressing things I’ve ever experienced but I couldn’t help but laugh a bit and think, “Geez, this should be in a movie.”

The 25th was also a very surreal experience. According to everyone that I talked to, most Mexicans do not celebrate much on Christmas Day although most stores are indeed closed. So, I woke up late and putzed around for the day with Marce at home. We ate our lunch and then Sarah and I decided to live into our need for more of a sense of Christmas and went to her coworker Mahua’s family’s home for their extended Christmas celebration. More of the same foods were served and we all sat around with wine, beer and coffee and chatted. It is a very artistic family, so we also busted out a guitar and sang along with some old folk songs. The house was in the northern part of Cuernavaca which is significantly cooler, so I got to wear a sweater and we made a fire in their fireplace. It almost felt a bit like home, almost but still missed the mark.


It was tough to be nostalgic with so little in common to remind me of what I was missing at home. However, that lack of familiarity sometimes seemed to make it more difficult. Overall, it felt more like I didn’t have a Christmas this year but just went to any other Mexican party (of which they have lots). I think my real saving grace was the upcoming vacation with Ryan who is visiting in a couple days. It is sure hard to linger in a bit of sadness and longing for home when I have such an exciting event to look forward to - the light at the end of the tunnel of the tough holiday season.