Thanksgiving- Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and pie.
Christmas- Ham or Turkey with sweet potatoes and green bean casserole and pie.
New Years Eve- Little Smokey's and left over Christmas cookies.
Allow me spell out for you our fun experiences here in Mexico over the holidays.
Thanksgiving-We were lucky enough to get to have Doug's parents here for the Thanksgiving holiday. We spent 2 days here in Mexico City and then went on an AeroMexico plane to Los Cabos. We spent 5 days in the beautiful sun (as it only rains an average of 4 days a year in Los Cabos) and in the water. We had a few pools at the all inclusive resort and we swam in all of them. The ocean on the East coast of the baja peninsula is 'swimmable' so they say. It has a rough rip current that is dangerous. The Pacific side on the West coast is deadly and there are warning signs to never swim. We attempted to swim in the roped off area for swimming and the current got the best of me and Doug, at the same time. We weren't watching a a wave sucked us right in from the beach. It pulled us under and spun us as if we were in a washing machine and filled our swimming apparel with sand. I was under there for what felt like minutes and when I had no breath left I reached the surface and could touch the bottom. I was sitting on the steep incline of a beach and looked up at my exhausted husband. His eyes were open wide and he was shaking his head. We were both completely confused at what just happened. My in-laws didn't even know we were in distress. That's how fast it happened. The rest of the time the ocean scared me. I respected it and kept my distance. We got tickets for a dinner cruise for Thanksgiving night. We had a huge buffet at the hotel that was serving Turkey and Mashed potatoes but we were excited about what the cruise had in store for us. When we arrived to the marina and waited in line to board the 2 floored boat. The crew came out in hip hop style dancing to their favorite song, then the captain came out and waved. We boarded and they handed us a drink from the choice of 3 colorful concoctions. We set sail and at sunset they served us tacos with chicken or beef steak, guacamole, salsa, cooked veggies and chips. It wasn't Turkey and potatoes but it was yummy.
Christmas we had my mom and dad here in Mexico City. We took a 2 hour bus to Puebla on Christmas Eve morning. We got to Puebla around lunch time then rode with our friend Luis and his dad in their car to Tehuacan after eating in a gorgeous courtyard of a yellow building with ornate white decals and trim. The sky was blue and made for nice pictures. We drove 2 more hours to Tehuacan for Christmas Eve dinner. We stayed in a beautiful old hotel that was decorated with Christmas lights and poinsettias. The warmth of the sun bathed the courtyard that both our rooms overlooked. At 7:30 Luis came to pick us up for dinner. We arrived at the house of his parents and the evening was warm and sunny. There was a rotating Christmas tree in the corner of the decorated dining room. All set for dinner. Our presents were placed under the tree with the others. We laughed and talked until almost 10 when we finally sat down for our dinner. The first course was a creamy white soup served with a white bread. I took the first spoonful and THEN decided to ask what was in the soup. Of course, hazelnut, of which I am allergic. They only make this special soup on Christmas of all holidays. So I started to freak out and missed the next course as I was carted off to find one of the only open pharmacies to buy some benadryl 'just in case'. When we got back dinner continued as planned. We had a buffet of meats and sides. Ham, Chicken, pork, fish. Delicious sweet potatoe-ish dish. Salad with a lime vinaigrette and then caramel jello and homemade ice cream for dessert. It was great, but after the hazelnut scare I just wasn't hungry and couldn't eat any of it. The next day (Christmas day) we ate left overs plus some new dishes for late lunch with more of the family there. It was again buffet style. For their family, and maybe other Mexicans, it is normal to have a big dinner on Christmas eve and then a buffet on Christmas day. They open gifts at midnight on Christmas eve, but since we were accustomed to opening on the eve or the next day they had us open our gifts before we ate. Our family in the US does the big dinner on Christmas Day. No pie or Christmas cookies, but still what an experience.
New Years Eve we were invited to another state bordering D.F. (Mexico City) called Michoacán. We rode an executive bus on a 4 hour trip to Morelia, a town where our friends' family live. We toured the historic downtown and I took a lot of pictures. (on facebook). Then on New Years Eve we went to a party at a salon. A salon is an empty house or party room that you can rent for parties. We enjoyed fresh guacamole from the avacado tree farm that our friend's dad owns. Best guac ever! Then we had a buffet at 10ish. There was beef. I mean like an entire cow. Tongue and all. BLUCK!! I did try it. did I like it? Not so much. The other dishes were candied ham with pineapple, Hot dog soup with white beans and bacon, Grilled veggies, seasoned noodles and shredded pork. All served with a hot side of corn tortillas. For desserts we had jello with fruit in it and Carmel pecan cheesecake! The cheesecake was to die for! As midnight came some of the neighbors in the town set of weak looking colorful fireworks, it entertained us though. We donned shiny hats with 2013 on them and some genius of a person gave noisemakers to the children. Oh joy! We took a bazillion family pictures and kissed just as many people at the stroke of midnight. I video taped all the kissing. I know so many Americans that would have been so uncomfortable at that moment. lol. We sat down around 1:00am to watch 2 of the cousins do a Magic Show. It was SO funny. I'm sure that it was funny because of how late it was, but nonetheless it was entertaining. We got home around 2:40 only because we hitched a ride with the couple who have a 5 month old and wanted to get to bet. The other 40 people stayed a lot longer, some until 5am. Yikes. We slept until noon the next day and had a yummy taco brunch with some of the leftovers from the night before. Then after lunch we took a mini trip up to the aguacate orchard... Stay tuned to hear what an aguacate is.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL
FROM THE KEILLORS IN
MEXICO
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