Feliz Año Nuevo

Well Feliz Año Nuevo, everyone, or as the Mexicans say, “Feliz Año!”  Make sure if you write this to use ñ instead of n, as it will drastically change the meaning of the word año.  (You undoubtedly don’t want to wish somebody a Happy New Anus!).

Anyway, we survived our noisy Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve celebrations here in the village.  Our Mexican neighbors are very friendly, courteous, and noisy!  Christmas Eve is very full of music, fireworks, bonfires in the streets, and general merrymaking!  And New Year’s Eve is pretty much the same.  And the parties tend to last all night.  But we stayed up late and wore earplugs to bed, and we were no worse for the wear.  Chuy did NOT like the fireworks, though, and stayed close to us.  On Christmas Eve, when the fireworks were loud, we even tried to sleep on top of Pixie’s head for comfort!  But we all survived and are now setting out to see what 2011 will bring. 

Christmas was a lot of fun, and very Mexican.  We attended the Christmas Posada in San Antonio as we have done in the past.  It seems as though the entire town comes out for the processions which occur on the nine days leading up to Christmas.  The posada consists of singing and reenacting the various elements of the nativity story, with various homes serving as stations for the reenactments.  Here are some photos which capture the posada we attended:

Christmas was a bit sad this year as it was the first we had not spent with at least two of our children.  We had been planning to have been in Maine and Indiana early in December to celebrate an early Christmas with everyone, but, as has been previously reported in Maine to Mexico, events made that impossible.  We did go to Cathy Roberts’ home (Cathy is a friend from Maine who owns a lovely B&B here in Ajijic ) for dinner.  Our two friends from Kennebunk, Ron and Jean were also there.  We met an interesting couple from Ireland there too, Andy and Siobhan (pronounced Shi-vón) who came here 3 ½ years ago to adopt a Mexican baby.  They return every Christmas so their daughter, Jessica, can appreciate her roots.  Here are photos of the gang at dinner and Andy, Siobhan, and Jessica:

Our friends, Fred and Mardele Harland, had a house full of children and grandchildren.  Matt and Renatta were visiting from Erie, PA with their two boys.  Readers of this blog may remember that Matt is the physician who helped me a couple of years ago when I suffered a head injury when Pixie was up north tending to her ill mom.  We also visited them in Erie on our way to Maine the summer before last. 

Their other son, Chris, and his wife, Becca and their two boys were also visiting.  They both live and work in Delhi, India, now, but make regular trips back to the US to visit family.  Fred and Mardele also visit them in India. 

 Ron and Jean hosted their friends, Tom and Penny, visiting this week from Kennebunk.  We had planned        a hike up the mountain in Ajijic to the small chapel.  Unfortunately, Ron and Jean both came down with bad colds, so I took Tom and Penny up the mountain.  Here are photos of us and a view from the chapel:

 

I am including a few photos of some interesting details of our temporary rental here in the village.  Below you can the big tree growing in our central garden with an orchid growing in it.  I’ve included a few architectural details and our not-so-scenic views from the roof!

 

 

 

We are looking forward to our long-delayed trip north in mid January.  Pixie’s face has healed nicely and both front teeth are in good working order.  We are being ever-so-careful on the cobblestones these days.