Merry Christmas

And to all my friends of other religious persuasions, I also wish you and your families a wonderful Holiday. I've always tried to be careful not to send my Jewish friends a Merry Christmas greeting and instead use something like "I wish you and your family a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous and happy new year." But this year the media and some groups have made the whole holiday greeting and how you celebrate it like something that should be hidden away from public view. A nativity scene in the front yard.....OH, NO! It might offend your Muslim or Jewish friends. Why are we in the USA becoming more and more polarized. While we say this is being done to be more sensitive and inclusive, it is my opinion that it is divisive and exclusive. Oh, my.....to much serious stuff for such a beautiful day.

And it is another beautiful day in San Miguel. Again, sun and blue skies. Our street is rather quiet except for the Senora in each house coming out about 8:00 A.M. to sweep the walk and street in front of their house. Then water is poured and it scrubbed down again. Some houses don't do this everyday but today is a holiday and so the street must be clean.

I've been standing at the kitchen sink from which I can see down our street. We are one of the streets that people walk up from the bus station and I've seen lots of people who are obviously from the campos walking up the street to join some of their city families today. The women are wrapped in shawls and they are carrying babies and big bags filled with what I'm assuming are special foods to be enjoyed.

Christmas Eve was lovely. We were invited to a party at Donne and Hugos at 5:00 PM. Their house is perched on the hill overlooking the city so we had a gorgeous view from the terrace. Donne had the house decorated for Christmas with garlands, trees, candles and lights. One of the designer magazines should have been there to take pictures. The table in the dining room was loaded with delicious food, the coffee table had some great snacks and in the downstairs casita were desserts of every kind imaginable. The food was beautiful and delicious. While we were there we got to enjoy one of San Miguel's most beautiful sunsets ever. It was thrilling to watch the sky darken and the lights all over the city twinkled. Besides all of that we got to visit with some old friends and make some new ones.

We left there and went to Joseph and Gary's for Christmas Eve Dinner. Their house was glowing with candle light. Joseph had been saving a special bottle of champagne which we had while the prime rib cooked. Then we gathered at their table for prime rib, twice baked potatoes and a carrot souffle as well as a couple of special bottles of wine that Gary had purchased when we went to Queretaro. There are always great conversations with Joseph and Gary. They have so many talents and interests. We lingered for a long time at the table enjoying the delicious dinner and the awesome cheesecake that Joseph made. About midnight we called a taxi and made our way home.

I missed my family but I felt very surrounded by special friendships and love.