Merry Christmas to All!

Today we put up our lone Christmas decoration: a festive pinata. Its body is ruffled green and festooned with red and white poinsettas. Seven red cones protrude from the body; each cone ends in a long green tassel. The whole is topped by a green and white cube decorated with snowflakes. It measures about a metre from the bottom tassel to the top of the cube and is quite heavy because there is a clay pot at the core. We didn't add any candy; maybe if we're lucky, Santa will fill it for us tonight. Or perhaps that would be unlucky, given that my waistline appears to be expanding from all the good food here in Oaxaca.

We assume that everything will be closed tomorrow and we're not sure about the rest of next week, so today we went out and bought extra drinking water to make sure we have enough. It was already very quiet downtown today. The locals have their big Christmas dinner tonight, before going to midnight mass and opening presents. Lots of restaurants were advertising elaborate Christmas parties: for around $45pp we could have had what I'm sure would be an astonishing feast, but we decided to save a bit of money and cook for ourselves. Part of the reason is that neither of us brought along any clothes that would be suitable to wear to a fancy Christmas party. Michelle could get something here, but it's very hard to find anything in my size.

We're spending tonight at home, listening to the fireworks from other celebrations. Tomorrow will also be a quiet day at home, though we may go out for a walk in the hills above San Felipe in the morning before it gets too hot. We will be thinking of family and friends tomorrow as we sit on our rooftop deck, watching the sunrise and the little birds flitting about the trees in our yard. (As I write this, the hummingbirds are making scolding sounds outside as they settle down for the night.) In the afternoon as we prepare chicken in red mole for our Christmas dinner, Michelle and I will raise a glass of Sangria in a toast to absent friends.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Before we left Vancouver, we had expected to make skype calls to family and some friends on Christmas day. That won't happen now, as we will have no internet for the laptop tomorrow and possibly not for the next several days. Feel free to call us if you have our number.