December 2023

December Overview –

Is it just me, or did December seem to fly by? 

At the beginning of December it was finally cool enough to enjoy my morning coffee outside on the patio again. I love early mornings on the patio, the air is so fresh and there is always a nice cool breeze – which at times has been a wee bit too cool that I need to grab my hoodie to put on.  But I’m not complaining….  cool mornings are always welcome here.

The third week of December we were back to dealing with water issues yet again, specifically that our kitchen sink and dishwasher were not draining.  We had this issue off and on in Oct/Nov but here we were dealing with it all over again.  We called a different plumber, and he poured some super strong industrial strength acid drain cleaner down the kitchen sink, and we had to wait 24 hours before using it.  This meant we were washing dishes by hand in the bathroom sink again (which we had to do during our kitchen reno a few years ago) which is never fun.  He came the next day to flush the drain and he confirmed all was clear and that we could use the sink again.  The sink worked perfectly…  for one day, until Lorne went to run a cleaning cycle through the dishwasher, and the dishwasher stopped working with an error message that it couldn’t drain… and then the kitchen sink would not drain again.  Lorne sent photos to the plumber, and he agreed to come the following afternoon to deal with it.  

The plumber returned, and after some intense investigation, we discovered that the problem was that when we pushed the dishwasher back into place, it would knock the drain hose loose.  This is what had caused all the flooding and/or would not allow the dishwasher to drain at all.  The best way to fix this was to change where the dishwasher was draining.  The way it had been set up, both the kitchen sink and dishwasher had separate drainpipes that go into the wall, where they join together and then flow down into a common sump basin between the buildings.  The plumber redirected the dishwasher drain hose to connect to the sink, instead of the drain hole in the wall behind the dishwasher.  And for the past couple of weeks, it has been working.  Keeping our fingers crossed it will continue this way, as we are seriously tired of all these water problems.

Of course, having this plumbing problem less than a week before Christmas was totally annoying. Our house was looking like we had just moved in, with all the stuff from under the kitchen sink in boxes and stacked in the living room.  Everything always feels so disrupted when things are not where they should be.  I had planned to do our Christmas baking that week, but it would end up being just too much to wash up in the bathroom sink, so that didn’t happen.

Our Christmas was simple but enjoyable.  We managed to make a couple of last-minute treats on the 23^rd, and we had a very yummy Christmas brunch on the patio (photos in our Snippets).  We spent the day watching movies and just enjoyed the time together.

As much as we love living here, we miss our kids the most during the holiday season.  I used to love decorating our house and the tree and having our family over to celebrate Christmas.  Besides the fact that we live so far apart, our kids are all now grown and are establishing their own Christmas traditions, which is exactly how it should be.  Still, celebrating the holidays with just the two of us is just not the same as having all our family together under one roof.   I miss that so much, and to be honest, I’m not sure it’s ever going to happen again.  So now we are trying to navigate how to celebrate the holidays with just the two of us here, in a much, much (much) more scaled down version of what we used to do.  But we are getting there, one holiday at a time.

On December 29, we went out to the “7 Seas Seafood Grille” in San Jose Del Cabo to celebrate our 23^rd wedding anniversary.  This is an adorable little beachside restaurant with such an amazing view.  The food was also amazing – we shared the “trilogy of tuna tartar” as an appetizer, and both ordered the “taco fest”, which was a selection of four different kinds of tacos (shrimp, tempura fish, ribeye, and octopus), and of course, we had to have margaritas – pink grapefruit for me, and pineapple for Lorne (photos in our Snippets).  Enjoying tacos and margaritas by the beach – always a fun thing to do.

New Year’s Eve was pretty low key for us again this year.  We made some nachos for dinner and played canasta through the evening.  Around 11:45pm I made some hot tea, and we bundled up in our long pants and hoodies (it was quite chilly outside at 20C/68F) and headed out to the patio to wait for the countdown and to watch the New Year celebrations.  At the stroke of midnight fireworks lit up the skies from every direction.  It was amazing!  There was also a huge drone show at Medano Beach, which we could also view from our patio.  We stayed outside until 1am so we could wish “Happy New Year” to our family who were celebrating New Years an hour later than us. 

Thinking back, it’s been quite a year, really.  Now we are looking forward to what 2024 has in store for us.

And now, here’s what’s been happening around here in December…

Christmas in Mexico

Christmas is the most celebrated event in Mexico and runs from December 8 through February 2.  Mexico’s winter holidays are filled with big festivals and deep-rooted traditions focusing on family and of course food.  With 80% of Mexico being Catholic, many of the celebrations are religious in nature, but typically are enjoyed by all.  Below are highlights of some of the celebrations and traditions seen here in Mexico.

Families attend special Mass services and, as well, visit shrines dedicated to her.  Celebrations also include street festivals, food stalls, and music.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is one of the most important patron saints of Mexico and celebrations take place annually across the country to honour this miracle.

Each of these nine nights a party is held in a different home in the community with both adults and children participating.  These parties are celebrated with Christmas carols and piñatas, along with dinner and drinks. To truly experience a traditional Mexican Christmas, you cannot miss out on a posada.

Food is the star of the event, and the must-have traditional foods for celebrating Nochebuena are:  pozole (a thick soup made from hominy, chicken or pork, and chilies), roast turkey, roast pork, bacalao (salt cod), romeritos (a green veggie cooked in mole sauce with potatoes and shrimp), Christmas Eve Salad and of course – tamales. There is also an abundance of sweets, as well as ponche navideño – a Mexican fruit punch, served only during the winter holidays.  It is essentially a mix of a hot toddy and sangria, served warm.  While some families open presents at midnight, others only eat the meal on this day, saving gift opening for the next day, and still some Mexicans don’t open their gifts until Three Kings Day on January 6.

No plant is more closely associated with the holidays than the poinsettia, and the beautiful, bright red poinsettias are Mexico’s gift to the world.  Called nochebuena in Spanish (that translates to “Christmas Eve”), this holiday plant is native to Mexico and is grown predominantly in the southern part of the country.  In 2022, Mexico produced 21.5 million plants with a value of US $52.5 million.

This Mexican Christmas tradition includes hoaxes, pranks, and telling lies in a playful manner.  While meant to be light-hearted, these practical jokes are to remind those of the trickery imposed by King Herod.

This tradition is called “Las Doce Uvas de la Suerte,” meaning “The 12 Grapes of Luck”.  If you manage to finish your dozen grapes in less than 60 seconds, it will bring you good luck and prosperity in the coming year.  (It sounds easy to do – but from personal experience, trust me when I say, it is much easier said than done!)

The best time to go to Mexico beaches is from November to March during the dry season, so it is the perfect time for friends and families to gather at the beach.

In Mexico, it is tradition for children to leave their shoes, along with a letter for the Three Kings telling them how good they have been and what toys they would like to receive, by their beds on the evening of January 5.  In the morning, children awake to find their presents, and later in the day families and friends gather to drink Mexican hot chocolate and eat the Rosca de Reyes, a delicious cake shaped like a ring, topped with dried fruits and sugar glaze to resemble a crown encrusted with jewels.  Within the cake, a little plastic baby figurine is hidden.  According to Mexican tradition, whoever finds the baby in their piece of cake must invite all those present to a meal of tamales on Candlemas Day.

The celebration for this holiday starts January 6 with the sharing of the “rosca” for the Three Kings Day, as the person who finds the little plastic baby figurine in their slice of cake will be required to make the tamales for Candlemas Day.  Besides attending church services, Candlemas Day is celebrated at home with a huge family dinner which includes the necessary tamales.  Tamales are always a part of every important Mexican celebration.  They are associated with birthdays, weddings, baptisms, the Day of the Dead events, and funerals.  But the biggest celebration associated with tamales is Candlemas Day.

To our Family & Friends – Wishing you all peace, health, and happiness in the coming year.

ps…  Don’t forget to check out the latest Snippets!