Fundraising season makes for a Merry Christmas: Our very long and late Christmas card

Yes, we were here last year in December but somehow with all the projects and moving here, it did not feel very festive. This year we took time to really enjoy the holiday season and I have to say it was a lot of fun. We have been doing a better job of trying to balance exercise, projects; both home and community and plenty of fun stuff. It is so important to remember that the community needs our help and the need to try to support it financially becomes more clear as “year rounders”.

Brant is now in Rotary Club and the big fundraiser is the “Taste of East cape”. About 20 restaurants give out delicious big tastes of ceviche, tamales, torras, ribs, barbacoa, ice cream and pastries , with a band playing and a silent auction. Much money was raised and the kids get a new playground and many other projects will be completed.

Then there is the art show and sale that takes place scattered out over a kind of subdivision in the desert that has yet to be fully built. It’s a desert hike combined with an art show. A great place for Christmas shopping with the proceeds helping local schools.

And there is the annual house tour…. Leaving you feeling house poor, but at least you have given to a good cause. It’s a great tour to do with friends so you can first argue about directions then later argue about which is the best house. The group that does this gives scholarships to students. Currently they are fully paying for 200 students in our area to attend school. Mexico pays for school only until the eighth grade.

There was also the Country Classic ATV ride. An exciting ride through the dessert with stops for line dancing, smores over a campfire, a beer bar in the middle of nowhere, a band stationed even more in the middle of nowhere and all done while answering country music trivia questions on paper plates attached to trees. We had a group of 4 ATVs of friends traversing arroyos, gorges, rocks, creeks, and I thought probably impassable ditches. ( I got out to take the weight off the vehicle). I am sure the route took many days to create but the proceeds raised will help fill the food pantries which help many needing food for their families, and is especially critically needed during hurricanes.

The toy drive was held at the entrance to town marked by the barrels fountain (where many stop for family photos and was constructed by the Rotary club). After Santa piles up all the toys dropped off, they are driven by rotary club members to a more remote town and given to the children on Three Kings Day. This is the day gifts are generally given in Mexico. I was surprised to see how many kids enjoyed getting their pic taken with Santa. Brant had fun taking pics for families and I enjoyed watching the excited kids.

Finally it was time to decorate so the Margarita and Ornament Making Party at Cafe Marias was well timed. I probably would have made even more ornaments if it wasn’t for the strong drink in a big red solo cup. It seemed unwise to mix drinking and hot glue guns but it was for a good cause. The money raised helps fund an after school art program for the kids. and it sure was a lot of fun.

The best fun was a surprise delivery of those ornaments to our friends in Shingle Springs. Friends invited us and we grabbed a cheap fare which apparently explains the quiet Cabo airport that day. We had a great time surprising our friends with the help of our hosts that even supplemented us with warmer clothes. And I got to got to go to Christmas Book Club….. even if I wasn’t as big a surprise by then! It was a fun filled few days …. A perfect Christmas gift for us .

Once we returned it was time to decorate. We were surprised to see more decorations in town than we have ever seen before. I knew I wanted a Baja tree but wasn’t sure exactly what that was or how to get one. As it turns out our century plant began producing one in the summer. (And yes they do die after they bloom.) we were also surprised that it was about 20 feet long, so we cut off 5 feet and very carefully dragged pulled and tilted it up to our rooftop deck on the third floor. We were surprised how big it was but we applied many strings of lights ( good thing we are retired and have time for this stuff) then Brant lashed is to our rooftop terrace. I can say Boy Scouts taught him well because it stayed up throughout the holidays. The neighbors enjoyed our light show tree with only one jokingly complaining about light pollution but with some complaining when we forgot to turn them on. Now we have to figure out where to store it. Not sure if this will compost!

We had a smaller agave bloom next to our pool stuck in our umbrella holder. ( I found it propped against our neighbors fence by some gardener who knew someone wanted so I dragged it up the street. Some police officers stopped and helped me trim it to a good 8 foot size). We decorated with pretty un breakables collected since college. The breakables stayed inside on a tiny little Christmas tree and our bar…. Nice reminders and so glad they are here to be taken out once a year.

Our friends had us over for Christmas Eve for tasty US tacos that can not be found here. So wonderful to have watched their home transform from a dirt lot with a beautiful view to a warm and cozy home with a spectacular view. And love those tacos that remind me of summer poolside parties. We often had tamales for Christmas but they are not plentiful here . The supplies to make your own are plentiful…. Hmmm maybe next year! My friends and I did that one year and thereafter bought….

And at last, I finally used my cookie gun… yes worth it to find room in the truck. Wow now that is a fun fast way to make cookies. Getting colored sugar was another challenge; first finding really white sugar that was not available here until about 2 years ago, then borrowing food coloring from a neighbor who happened to find one day and has never been seen again. Yup who knew you could make your own ! Three of us made a hundred little cookies in no time.

We had a wonderful Christmas Day dinner with our neighbors after a walk down to the beach. We pulled our gate open and found a cat painted on a rock. We lost Jude this year (sad but a cat who had a lot of fun), so it was a special mystery gift. As we walked down the road we saw that someone had left beautiful cat rocks next to many neighbor’s gates. A nice mystery that took quite while to solve….

We can now find turkey here and our neighbors cooked up a delicious smoked Turkey. We had all the usual trimmings followed by a fire crackling in an outdoor fireplace made it feel a bit like our old home.

As always, New Years comes up quickly after Christmas. Last year there was little energy left for New Years and no black eyed peas to be found but we decided this year we needed to make up for COVID New Years. Reservations made for the beach restaurant with a good band …. And most importantly a group of great friends not opposed to packing into a Photo Booth.. and even more important, black eyed peas on the roof at midnight… with a few fireworks in the distance. (so thankful for friends who sent us off with black eyed peas from California last summer). And those same friends joined us on the roof that night. So happy that D and C found a way to get here. It was great to share the evening with silver and gold friends together.

Well this has been far too long a blog entry, and sad that Brant is not putting together his terrific music filled Christmas CD this year. The year before last was one filled with too much excitement tinged with fear and the work of closing down shop and saying goodbye to so many over so many months . It was a year of getting rid of most of a lifetimes collected stuff and for me it was a sense of great loss. This year was about building a new “home”. We have been surprised to find so many friends who share our interests yet come from diverse backgrounds . We love having time to pursue new interests and projects. Most importantly, it is so good to realize we still love learning new stuff. We look forward to having a year of sharing new discoveries with our friends both old and new.

Our “Christmas card” is a bit late but hope everyone had good holidays with family and friends. It is never too late to wish a year of good times to all!