Rocking around the Christmas tree ....

My sisters and I, about 1954.    

Merry Christmas everyone! 

I know, it's not politically correct to say that anymore, but I was brought up celebrating Christmas. 

Our family always went to church - two days a year - Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday. How many of you did that? Come on now, hands up. 

Dad's parents were a strict Baptist mother, and a father that was probably agnostic if not atheist. Mom was adopted when she was seven by couple who had recently moved from Iceland to Canada, so her religious upbringing centred around the Lutheran doctrine. My parents compromised. Any time we did go to church it was at the United Church. 

Most years Mom pressured us into observing her favourite Icelandic custom, opening our presents on Christmas Eve after the midnight service. Every year she had great hopes that we would sleep in and not be excitedly rampaging around the house at four in the morning. For us, it was a thrill to stay up and rip into pretty packages, but then in the morning we had nothing more to unwrap, so it was a bit of a let-down. 

Kids! Always wanting more.

Bralorne BC United Church 

Our presents were warm clothes and skis. Books and hobby items, like a wood burning set for my second oldest sister Joann. Stuffed animals and dolls when we were younger. A wooden bed for a new doll. It was handmade and painted bright blue by Dad. A big candy cane, nuts in their shells, and a juicy Japanese orange stuffed into one of  Dad's woolen work socks; the same woolen socks that were pressed into service when we had a cold. Our necks and chests would be smeared with stinky Vicks Vaporub and Dad's sock wrapped around our throats then pinned in place with a huge safety pin. 

One year when I was about four, Mom and Dad ordered a red tricycle through the Sears Christmas catalogue. Our parents were out at an adult Christmas party and our two teenage sisters were either working or visiting their friends. My third sister, Judith who was about ten at the time, and I were home alone. It was the early 1950's and it wasn't a big deal to leave your elementary-aged kid in charge of a preschooler. 

Judith found the shipping box and insisted on assembling the trike. We played with it for an hour or two, then she took it apart and put it back in the box. Judith swore me to secrecy. "I'll pound you if you blab," she threatened as older siblings tend to do. On Christmas morning our unsuspecting dad spent a bit of time putting my new tricycle together - again.

 Christmas morning, before being sent to play outside we had a big breakfast, hearty enough to keep us away from the kitchen until later in the day. Mom wasn't an enthusiastic cook most days, but she really put her heart into the special family dinners. Christmas dinner was centred around the biggest damn turkey she could find, and served with baked sweet potatoes, mashed white potatoes, cauliflower with cheese sauce, Brussels sprouts, peas, gravy, cranberry sauce, olives, celery pieces filled with Cheese-Whiz, and pickles. Everyone, kids included, was served a tiny glass of Sandeman's Port in celebration of the holiday.

Mom may not have liked cooking, but she loved to bake. She typically started the Christmas baking in mid-October. Her Christmas cakes were weighty, twenty-five pounds of dried fruit for eight cakes, and took up to ten hours to bake in a slow oven. I remember her staying up all night, checking the oven every hour and pulling out the smallest cakes in the middle of the night; the bigger ones weren't ready until breakfast-time the next morning. In later years as her four daughters married, her Christmas cake recipe was used for our wedding cakes. 

Mom making a Christmas cake for a wedding

Her other speciality was the traditional Icelandic vinartera a seven-layer torte, always seven layers, not more not less. Each layer was slathered with a concoction of cooked dates, butter, and vanilla. Mom preferred to use the more expensive dates instead of stewed prunes, and round pans instead of square. She would wrap the layered cakes in tin-foil and hide them in a dark, cool place, until Christmas Eve, then she would carefully unwrap one cake and generously ice the top and sides and liberally sprinkle it with cinnamon. Vinartera is a rich, filling dessert that will keep for many months. It was a family source of amusement that Mom would make enough vinartera to last into spring, plus shortbread, sugar cookies, snowballs, and squares but we weren't allowed to touch any of it until Christmas Eve. 

Does that sound familiar? Did your Mom or Grandmother do the same? Hoard the goodies then put the entire family into a near-diabetic coma with a holiday overload of sugar and calories? 

Merry Christmas everyone, and here's to a happier and healthy 2021!

Cheers 

Lynda and The Sparkinator

Murder and mayhem. Revenge and romance, 

Isla Mujeres Mysteries

featuring Sparky the pure-bred, Mexican-low-rider-beach-mutt.  

Click on the link below to grab your copy today!

Isla Mujeres Mysteries

You are not in Kansas anymore

Night of the Kings Isla Mujeres M Watt photo

The great thing about being an ex-pat, living in another country, is the adventure.  

Different food, different language, and different customs – and it sure the hell isn’t exactly like “home.”  But that’s what makes the experience so enjoyable.

We grimace when we hear ex-pats criticize their new country, and I don’t just mean folks that have recently moved here to Isla, I mean any ex-pat in any country.  Unless you hold a valid passport for your new country you are not a citizen, you are a guest: plain and simple.  You are allowed to be in that country at the pleasure of the government.  Enjoy the experience for what it is!

Here’s some of the fun differences you will find in Mexico:

Did you know that gift giving at Christmas is not a widespread tradition in Mexico?

Lawrie with Jordan Kowalchuk, 2000 in Canada

The traditional day for gift giving is January 6^th the Night of the Kings, when the three wise men purportedly arrived in Bethlehem with gifts for the baby Jesus.  

Gift giving at Christmas only gained in popularity with the advent of television marketing and the influx of American and Canadian visitors.  Beleaguered parents must now purchase gifts for both Christmas and the Night of the Kings.  It’s a financial challenge for the parents, but a great score for the kids!

Did you know that the Cinco de Mayo celebrations are generally ignored in Mexico?

The Cinco de Mayo, 5^th of May, has been celebrated in California since 1863 when Mexican miners, who were working in northern California, learned that 4000 Mexican troops had defeated 8000 invading French troops at Puebla Mexico.  The French had conquered the important port of Veracruz in 1861 on the east coast and had then moved overland to invade Mexico City.  They were finally stopped and defeated by the Mexican troops at Puebla.  

At the time the Battle of Puebla took place in 1863 the United States was occupied with their Civil War.  France has hoped to establish a presence in Mexico so that they could support the Confederate Army in their battle with the U.S. Union forces.  The Mexican, working in California, were so overjoyed at the news of their country’s successful defeat of the French forces, they fired off rifle shots and sang patriotic songs.  By the 1930’s, in the United States, Cinco de Mayo was seen as a celebration of the Mexican culture.  The holiday didn’t come into US national prominence until the 1980’s when beer company marketers, primarily Corona, capitalized on the celebration and it grew in popularity in areas like Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and San Jose.

Did you know that Halloween and The Day of the Dead are not the same?

Lynda & Lawrie

Halloween is believed to have originated in Ireland as a pagan celebration in appreciation of the afterlife, of survival, of continuing to be alive while others have died.  It is the day when the door to the afterlife is open.  Halloween has since evolved into a festival of funny costumes, parties, and trick-or-treating.

The Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, originated in Mexico around 3500 years ago.  It is a celebration in remembrance of friends and family who have passed on.  Celebrated over three days it is an important family event.  October 31^st the angelitos, spirits of dead children, are invited back to visit their families.  November 1^st is for the adult spirits, and November 2^nd is All Souls Day when families visit the cemeteries to decorate the graves of their relatives.  

Trick-or-treating is not part of the Day of the Dead celebrations.  But kids are always happy to embrace a new idea, especially one that includes candy.

 

Flowers for Day of the Dead

Did you know that Mexico is part of North America? 

It’s strange how most ex-pats or tourists think just of Canada and the USA when referring to North America.  Mexico is part of North America.  Central America starts at the southern border of Mexico and includes Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama.   And South America, well it is that really, really big continent south of Central America.  

The oldest permanent European settlements in North America are thought to be Mexico City settled by Spanish in the 1520’s, Port Royal in Nova Scotia Canada settled by French in 1605, and Jamestown Virginia USA settled by English in 1607.  That makes Mexican traditions about a hundred years older than Canadian or American traditions. 

Cooking with Abuelita Angelita, FaceBook photo

So now you know a bit more about Mexico, and hopefully our internet research is reasonably correct.  

Celebrate the differences and embrace your new adventure whole-heartedly.  Learn a bit about local customs, try different foods, attempt to learn the language even if you stumble and make a mess of the words.  

Try these fun adventures:

Spanish + English classes and Boot Camps in Isla Mujeres, taught by Christy Dix. 

Or learn Mexican cooking with Christy’s mother-in-law, Abuelita Angelita.   Both ladies can be found on Facebook.

 

Spanish Boot Camp with Christy Dix - FB photo

Live, laugh and enjoy!  Life is too damn short to be grumpy about little annoyances!

Hasta Luego

Lynda & Lawrie

Disney comes to Isla

A group of twenty motorcycles parked along the curb with front wheels canted at a forty-five degree angle to the left.  Several golf carts with decorations fastened to every available surface gathered on Aeropuerto Road – pointing north.  A large decorated pickup truck, complete with a Christmas tree and a generator powering the Christmas lights swung into place at the head of the line!  It’s a parade!

And then the parade marshal arrived to tell us we were heading south first, not north.  Oops.

With the assistance of a local policeman, Sponge Bob (Jimmy Picuri) in his too-wide costume was stuffed into the back seat of his decorated golf cart, and then the parade participants were directed to turn their vehicles around and head south.  

The Christmas tree truck and Santa lead the way.  Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Elmo, Sponge Bob, two Santas, elves, a red-haired wood nymph, a pretty Disney princess, a reindeer-dog, dozens of kids and the motorcycles set off in a cloud exhaust, with horns honking.  Surprisingly we weren’t very late getting started – about fifteen minutes behind schedule instead of the normal one to three hours. 

Weeks before the parade date our friend Freddy Medina asked us if we would like to participate in the parade being organized by the dance troupe - Algeria y Pasion Carnavalesca.  He asked us to wear our Mickey and Minnie costumes.  He would wear our Elmo costume, and find two other friends to be Sponge Bob and Spiderman.  We readily agreed.  Then I started obsessing about the route, and the timing, and finding more friends to join in.

Daily emails to Freddy asking: “Do we know the route yet?  Everyone is asking.”  And the response was: “Not yet, or soon, or we have a meeting tomorrow.  Don’t worry.”   

In the end I stop fretting, and just trusted that someone would know what the heck was happening.  I worried for naught.  As it turns out the honking horns and backfiring motorcycles were all the notice that people needed to find the parade.  And find us they did.  The kids and adults came streaming out of houses and side streets laughing and calling out to the various participants.  Handfuls of wrapped candy tossed towards the crowds created giggling pandemonium. 

Those of us that were in costumes could not see very well.  I had to keep asking my friend and driver, Marcy Watt, which way I should be looking and waving.  Most of the time she couldn’t understand what I said; my words were muffled by the large padded head, sounding much like a mouse squeaking – or as we called it; mouse-speak.  But we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  Marcy repeated over and over how this night would always be a favourite Isla memory for her.

The kids were everywhere, shouting: Minnie, Minnie, Minnie.  A few vehicles back, Mickey Mouse was experiencing the same reaction as we wound through small crowded streets.  One small girl shouted Mickey’s name, until he hopped out of the golf cart and walked towards her, then she turned and ran screaming into the house.  I guess the thought of a very large rodent hugging her was too much to contemplate. 

As we turned the corner onto the larger road that passes the Super X-press in the colonias a group of thirty-something-men having a pre-Christmas celebration near Zina’s Guest House, shouted Mickey’s name.  Mickey decided to get out of the golf cart and meet some of his fans.  Oh, oh. Mistake.  They whole heartedly embraced Mickey Mouse, tossing him into the air.  Fortunately for everyone involved they caught him before he slammed onto the concrete.  A hundred or so little kids watched in horrified suspense, wondering if their hero was going to be hurt. 

Then the route turned back towards the north end of the island, winding through the tight one-way street system in Centro.  We finished up on Medina Avenue lined up along the street, posing with locals who wanted to be photographed with the characters.  Eventually the parade participants disbanded.  We were exhausted, thirsty, hot, and soaked in perspiration.  Our right arms ached from two hours of waving to the crowds. 

However, Elmo, (Freddy Medina) was convinced to stay in costume and participate in the city parade, starting immediately after ours finished.  Poor guy, he was in costume for four and a half hours.  He likely lost ten pounds in fluids.  Another islander, Ashley Blogins, mentioned that she had once worked at Disneyland, where characters were strictly monitored and allowed to stay in costume for ten-minute increments, according to the temperature. 

Freddy my friend, you are a rock star!  

Thank you again for a memorable experience, allowing your Disney friends to meet your Isla friends. 

Happy New Year to Everyone

Lynda & Lawrie

PS: none of the parade photos are mine.  It was impossible for me to take pics while dressed in costume.  Thank you to Darren, Alexis, Deb, Francisco, Marcy, for letting us to use your photos for the blog this week.

'Tis the Season

'Tis the holiday season - to celebrate the winter solstice, Christmas, Hanukkah, Posadas Navideñas, all leading up to the grand finalé of New Year's Eve. 

We enjoy experiencing the differences between our Canadian celebrations and the Mexican celebrations.  The Posadas Navideñas take place on the nine days preceding Christmas.  From the 16th to the 24th of December local processions reenact Mary and Joseph's search for shelter in Bethlehem.  The processions lead to a different house every night for the culmination of the posada - a small fiesta at the house.   Although some Mexican families have Christmas trees, nacimientos (nativity scenes) are a more common Christmas decoration.  Many families have elaborate nativity scenes in their homes or yards.  There are also large public displays set up in common areas such as the City Hall square or Centro.  The nacimiento is usually set up on December 16th, the baby Jesus is added on the evening of December 24th and the three kings are added on the Night of the Kings, January 5th.



Christmas Eve is called Nochebuena in Spanish. This is the night of the last posada.  Many people attend midnight mass and then have a dinner together with their families.  Christmas Day is generally a quiet day.  Gifts are not traditionally exchanged at Christmas but instead gifts are given to children on the Night of the Kings.  This custom is changing, as the concept of Santa Claus becomes increasingly more prominent in Mexican Christmas celebrations. 

Around 5:45 on Christmas morning, I was awakened by an unusually large number of vehicles, motos, trucks, golf carts passing the house.  Curious I slipped out to the upper balcony to see what was happening.  It was the revelers returning from all-night fiestas at private homes, or in some cases, night clubs.  There were golf carts crammed with eight, ten, or twelve family members.  Motos with two, three or four people.  Trucks with the pickup boxes overflowing with people still dressed up for the Christmas Eve festivities. 

 

It reminded me a little of when I was a child.  My mother had been adopted by an Icelandic couple in Selkirk Manitoba when she was around seven years old.  Their traditions included a church service late on Christmas Eve, and then the gifts are opened after midnight.  My mom thought that was a more civilized way to celebrate because then her four daughters wouldn't want to get up at five in the morning to open their gifts.  However, we never officially adopted her Christmas Eve tradition - although occasionally she would convince me - the youngest - to insist that we open the presents.

It is a bit odd to be commemorating, what we know as a winter event, under a warm sunny sky with the fragrance of flowers in the air, and palm trees swishing in a light breeze.  It's times like that I think about Lawrie's dad who every year tried to convince his family of adult kids and their spouses that we should all be celebrating in Hawaii, or someplace warm.  We scoffed at the silliness of such an idea.  Christmas without snow!  Christmas without ice!  Christmas without grey skies! 

What was he thinking? 

Now we know.  He was right. 

                                     

                                         
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On December 26th Jackie Walker and Michael LeFines celebrated the 10th anniversary Jax Bar and Grill for their 10th Anniversary celebrations. 

Jackie created a video montage of the past ten years remembering the ups and downs that she and Michael had experienced as business owners in a foreign country.  Beside the financial interference of a corrupt local politician which resulted in a lengthy and costly court battle that Jackie and Michael eventually won, the property was severely damaged during hurricane Wilma in November 2005.  But as the sign says - "We're still here!"

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Tuesday December 27th Lawrie was the auctioneer for the 2nd Annual Treasure Island fundraiser for the Las Glorias English School.  Maggie and Tom Washa, with their small army of volunteers put on a great event.  All of the funds raised go to scholarships for students who are unable to pay the tuition. 

There were pirates from many areas of the USA and Canada that congregated to invade Isla Mujeres. 

We love it because it's another excuse to play dress-up!  .