I love Christmas!
I love the hub-bub of Christmas shopping. Not that I did that much "shopping" this year. Listening to people ask each other about other's preference on stuff that is ONLY sold around Christmas. "Do you think she would like this? Do you think this is stupid?" and on and on. But every time I head home I see the Sandia mountains and I am at peace.
I took some pictures of my totally lit-up balcony complete with askew decorated Christmas tree. That being from my great-granddaughter 'helping'.:) Still having picture posting problems. Say that 10 times really fast;)
My daughter posted some Christmas pictures on her blog form her childhood. So many memories.
I love Christmas!
The greatest gift for me this year was being home and spending an evening with my kids. We had beef roast with veggies, a huge salad, spinach lasagna, cherry Jell-o pound cake and Peach pie with REAL whipped cream. Then divvied up the leftovers for the next day. Very pleasant, relaxed evening.
My mom made the best peach pie and empanadas I have ever tasted. She also made bean and cheese empanadas. We reminisced about her cooking and how now we have to avoid all those delicious dishes she created. Laden with lard AND fried! Her cholesterol was only 80. All her life! We eat preserved and "fresh" foods and have high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and a litany of other health issues that come and go depending on which doctor is evaluating whatever the aide charted.
There was a huge pantry in the house where I grew up. Actually my Grandpa's house. I would walk in there and complain that there was nothing to eat. My mom would walk in there and within an hour had enough dishes made to feed us all day. Anyone that came by to visit was encouraged to eat. Later in life she got into the habit of making a gravy, dog food concoction for her beloved dog, Boots. (That dog could clear a room with the gassy discharge from all that pampering.) A few times she would find someone eating the dog food left on the stove to cool. My brother and I would only snicker when they would compliment her new creation. She would wait until they were finished eating, then tell them it was dog food:))
I remember how every inch of her house was decorated. Even the bathroom;) Some of the decorations were really old. When she found my brother dead Christmas Day 1998, my cousin came in and took down all the decorations, including her tree, on the 26th. My cousin couldn't find the boxes, so she just put them in big trash bags that were provided via a water bill coupon by the city every 3 months. Then threw them into the cuartito outside. That was not a good Christmas. My sister and I took turns staying with her every night for 6 weeks. I slept in my brother's bedroom and was awakened every night at 2:15 AM. According to the OMI report, this was the approximate time of his death. I loved my brother and I miss him sometimes. He would tease me about him being fifty years old in the year 2000 but I would not be fifty years old until almost two years later. He didn't make it. 2/27/2000 was not an easy day for me. He was on my mind all day.
My mom always found a way to buy gifts for her kids, grandkids and anyone else she thought deserved one. In her later years, when her sight was failing due to macular degeneration, she would forget to remove the price tags. Nobody said anything, because, she loved Christmas too. Or, maybe, she did know. Hmm?
My sister and I would show up at mom's at 5 AM on Tamale making Day. Usually 3 weeks before Christmas. She would be up half the night cooking the pig heads that we took apart to mix with chili. We would make tamales all day long! When my daughter's S.O became a vegan, mom made veggie tamales.
I love Christmas!
I love the TV specials. the old as well as the new. The Nativity sets, the lights, the luminarias, the silver and gold garland, the smell of seasonal foods, the memories, and most of all, the celebration of our Savior's birth. Happy birthday Jesus!
And did I mention: I love Christmas!
Be blessed in the coming year.
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