Friday, December 28

Christmastime

I'm horrible at taking photos. Not the actual snapping a photo but the I-should-take-a-photo-because-I'll-wish-I-had-photo-later. Oh how I hope that God sends me a man who likes taking pictures all the time because I don't, even though I do very much appreciate photos afterwards. I share this little "rant" with you because I wanted to share, with photos, some things I knew I'd be experiencing but ended up only snapping about 4 worthwhile ones, and none of them are of the celebrations.

My parents were here as I previously mentioned. They just left at 5am this morning since they have a long drive ahead of them today. We enjoyed a nice 5 days together. It was so great to introduce them to all my friends down here, the ministries I participate in and love, and to share many things with them. They got to meet my Oasis boys and dear friends there...that was worth the trip alone. If anybody else wants to visit, I would love to take you out to Oasis...plus they just had a baby calf born!
 

On Christmas Eve, my parents and I had two parties to attend. I didn't take into account the Mexican culture that while being told to arrive at one time, things may not start happening until an hour (or two) later. First up was the party at Oasis. We arrived at 5pm and got to see the boys. Around 7pm, we were moved into the main room for the program and food. They started with singing and then from what I understand, there was a drama, a short talk, and then the dinner. My parents and I left after the singing, at 7:45pm, because of the next engagement I had committed to.

So around 8:10pm we arrived to Pastor Reynerio's church. I thought we had been invited to dinner: my family and his family. Turned out to be a mis-understanding on my part because there was a church service going on and the whole church participated in the dinner afterwards. Dinner was served about 9:45pm.  After dinner, around 10:30pm, it was time for pinatas...they had one for the girls and one for the boys. At first, when we arrived to the church service, I was a bit regretful that I had committed to coming and wished I had just remained at Oasis. However, we ended up having a really nice time at Reynerio's and I'm glad we went.

On Christmas day, we had a simple but yummy breakfast together, watched a movie (Christmas in Connecticut (from 1945), a bit of baking and food preparation for dinner, before going to my friend's house for Christmas dinner. Our dinner consisted of Carne Asada tacos. Oh my...were these good!!! I brought a green salad and a jello salad and it was ended up being a great meal. For dessert, I made this Chocolate Pecan Pie (yum!):
 
 
We had a good time talking and laughing. Ooh...let me go take a picture of one great gift I received from my friends, Brian and Erin:
 
I have a "small" Starbuck mug collection. Brian and Erin just went to Mexico City about two weeks ago. When I saw their own mug, I hoped and hoped they had purchased one for me. Hooray!
 
Then the day after Christmas, my parents and I were invited over to my landlords/friends, Sammy and Leyda's house, for a breakfast of tamales! So so good! I then took my parents to a couple local sights where I snapped these pictures:
 
 
And this has been my Christmas 2012!

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