I have to start this blog with a personal story. My husband I decided to finally replace our old Christmas tree, so I went on line and ordered one from Lowe’s. Spoke with a great guy named Shawn who described the tree, so I complete my order. This was Dec. 17th and it said 3-7 day delivery, so in as much as it had to be delivered to the border I figured it would probably take 7 days. We had already planned to go to the US on that Saturday, so on the 19th I called Lowe’s only to find it had already been delivered on the 18th. Well they charge $10 to store up there at the gas station in Lukeville, and in as much as we got free shipping, we decided to go up on the 20th to retrieve it. Also decided to take Tucker for a ride with us. Got up there by 8 am and at 8:30 and $10 later, the nice young man loaded it the JEEP and off we went. Of course we got the dreaded red light. So I opened the window and handed the cute polite young man on the Mexican side Tucker’s papers and he said why? I said por mi perro (for my dog)… little did I know for once Tucker decided to lay low! Next he wanted to know what was in the box… again I was so prepared and told him it was our Christmas tree handed him the receipt and I was so proud of myself as I was now for 2 for 2. Then he says, “Register” and I said oh geez (not in those words) as I usually carry it in my purse. So as Bill and I tore the JEEP apart, we had them backed up with everyone getting the red light. Seemed like a lifetime, but we finally found it and I showed it to him and he smiled and said go! No problem, we were off. The next day, we made out trip to Sun City for doctor appointments and I wanted to make sure I could bring a turkey, so we stopped on the Mexican side and guess who was there? Yup the cutie, so when I called him over, he just smiled. On our return trip he and another young lady saw us and just waved us on! It pays to be polite there.
So now the tree is up and decorated, the house is decorated and it feels like Christmas. I am sure, soon the city will have the Nativity Scene up complete with the live animals and the parks will also be lite up. I am sending you a picture of our tree (which is complete with decorations from all over Bill and my travels over the world including Disneyland in Hong Kong) and my take on an old antique picture frame I hauled from Wisconsin over 35 years ago. The outside of the house is almost done except for the old Santa and 2 reindeer that have to hung from the balconies.
As we all prepared to have Thanksgiving with family and friends, we also remembered to give thanks to our troops overseas and our military who could not be so lucky to spend time with their family. The other day, I actually looked at a young man who is the military here as there were filling up with gas and told him thank you for his service in my best Spanish.
Here in Puerto Peñasco, things were very busy. Beside Thanksgiving Day events at various restaurants, we had many events going on. One of the annual events is the Art in the Park in Las Conchas. Despite being windy and cold (to our standards) they had a great turnout and I believe all the vendors were pretty happy. It seemed everyone from the US brought Rhino’s, sand rails or other such vehicles. We saw a lot of license plates from all over. The restaurants and bars should have been happy as you could not get into the Old Port. Everyone has a different idea of how to the do the birds. Friends from Tucson and Green Valley, dig a huge pit in the sand in front of Playa Bonita for their birds and pork butt. The rest of us do them traditionally in the oven, Weber or smokers.
Traditional Mexican Decorations
That brings us to the onset of Christmas and New Year’s in Mexico. The stores are loading up with Christmas decorations and fresh Poinsettia’s and today I got 2 that are about 24″ tall and full of blossoms for $5.00 USD each. The grocery store had fresh Eucalyptus leaves, so these have been added to the wreaths. For the last 14 years I have worked in real estate here in Puerto Peñasco and we never got any holiday off!!! So now I working for a company that gives me the US holidays off, but other than Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving Day I work the rest as I don’t want to be a double dipper, taking off the Mexican holidays also. On Dec. 18th we are having our “Secret Santa” event at the office along with the ugly sweater contest. Well, let me tell you, I own 15 Christmas sweaters and none of them are ugly, so I guess I may not be the winner of that one. We are also having a company Posada on the 21st so I am really looking forwards to these events as well.
Glass Blower with his delicate items
We will find ourselves volunteering at various charities passing out food and toys to the less fortunate than us. This is a real eye opener here to see just how big the little town of Puerto Peñasco is and how many have so little. I would like to invite any of you reading this, if you are here, let me know if you want to help volunteer somewhere.
View of Some of the Vendors
My only Christmas wish is that you that are following my blogs, call or email me with suggestions or questions. I have had questions from Michigan to Lake Chapala outside Guadalajara, MX.
Shirt from apparel and jewelry made by JAR (Judy Ridgeway)
PLEASE start watching here as we will be doing Q & A’s starting next week, so send me your pics if you can and of course your names so I can feel like I know you. In my next blog I will touch more on the tradition of Christmas here in Mexico.
I will update you in December as to upcoming events. Please come do to visit us as I want to share my city with you.
