We're Back

Had a great time with the in-laws but VERY glad to be back in the U.S.A. !

Tamales for Breakfast

The fireworks explosions lasted until after 3am last night. Somehow i find lying in the dark in a strange country, listening to the whine and report of rockets and the ¨BOOM¨ of homemade explosives a tad unsettling. Tonight will probably be more of the same, despite the fact that some of these folks have to go to work tomorrow.

Our Christmas celebration was really good - chock full of all the cheesy stuff holidays are supposed to be about - family friends and good food. i was even able to make the acquaintance of several people that i had previously only known from photographs.

As part of my own celebration, i took my dear sweet time getting out of bed. Then i had real, honest to goodness, homemade by my Mexican mother-in-law tamales for breakfast. Seriously, you are SO jealous.

Fireworks for Christmas

My family is staying in the front room of the building my in-laws live in and my in-law´s dear lovely sweet darling precious wonderful neighbors are REALLY starting to get on my nerve with their tradition of exploding fireworks in the street on the wee hours of any holiday.

At least i don´t have to work in the morning.

Feliz Navi-blog!

i just want to take this opportunity to wish everybody MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR and throw in a quick THANK GOD FOR THE SECOND AMENDMENT!

Where i am right now its ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD y PROSPERO AÑO NUEVO!....

In case you didn´t know, here in Mexico personal ownership of a firearm is VERY RESTRICTED and is, for all intents and purposes, illegal. Interestingly enough, the national murder rate here is about double the national murder rate of the United States. Go figure.

We Made It

DESPITE the hassle with obtaining visas to travel and a permit for the car (the rules are different every year - no joke) we were FINALLY able to get everything in order, pick up my brother-in-law and drive to my in-laws in Monterrey, Mexico.

All of us are watching a Trace Bundy DVD so my brother-in-laws showed me this on You Tube. (its in Spanish but you´ll get the idea)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78WikcTWe4M Tony Melendez

In-Laws

Wow! This month has been a blur! Its been really good, though. Lots of good important stuff - time spent with friends, time spent with family and in a few hours we will make the trek to spend some quality time with my in-laws. (My mother-in-law is an awesome cook - trust me, you're jealous!)

More details tomorrow. :-)

Domestic Electric

And now for the very mundane. I love my electric company. Yes, you read that right. But, you see, I have a very good reason.

Previously we lived in a small house where the electricity was provided by CP&L. (They service much of Oklahoma and Texas) When we moved into our current home, we almost doubled our living space. I was bracing myself for horrendous electric bills because, like our last house, this is an "All-Electric". When the first bill came, I read it over and over. It was almost the same amount that we were paying monthly in the tiny house. There is one key difference between that house and this house.

Now we get our electric from an electrical co-operative. Magic Valley Electric Cooperative. And the service is better, too.

I told you it was mundane.

Corn Maze

This Friday we'll be going with a group of students to a local corn maze. They say that it can take 3 to 4 hours to go through. I may have to buy a digital camera for this. This should be a good week.

Where did this year go?

More Chavez

Early election results tonight (73% of votes counted) show Hugo Chavez being re-elected as president of Venezuela by an almost 2-1 margin.

i guess that means that we can settle in for another several years of Chavez-esque U.S. bashing.

Posada

All in all, this was a good week. Tonight we went with my dad to the local Posada. (Pop was just in town to chauffer a friend down into Mexico)

The Posada is an interesting Christmas season Hispanic tradition. I am told that the Posada originated in the Catholic church as a procession to celebrate the Holy Family. I have no idea if that is true or not but I have seen the local Posada held in the downtown park a couple different years now. This has evolved into parade, county fair-type food booths, pictures with Santa, big stage, small stage, little rides for kiddos.

I didn't get to see the whole parade (we went to see my daughter in a hand bell choir) but i did see a couple of the floats leaving the area after the parade. This was probably more entertaining than seeing the actual parade. On one float was a "shepherd" smoking a cigarette like it was his last meal and another had guys in kilts with swords and longarms. I have no idea what that has to do with Christmas but made me want to yell "Huzzah!".