This time I will speak about what Christmas is for me and what I have learned by spending the holidays away from home. In Mexico we celebrate Christmas in different ways, but in my family, we all get together in my grandparents ranch. We are about 100 people and we all find a way to spend as much time as possible together. Cooking for 100 people can be quite an experience, but when everyone pitches in, it is not that bad. In the ranch we all eat one meal a day, we say that because we all start cooking in the morning for breakfast, then we spend so much time talking and catching up that when we finish, it is time to eat lunch, and so on. I must point out that there is just one shower in the house, and on the 24th it is a huge fight over who showers first, because it is 35 degrees Celsius, so we are all sweaty. The kitchen is a nightmare because even though we have been working on that night’s dinner for 2 days, things are still cooking. Around 9’o clock, the mirror is packed, we are all finishing getting ready and we go to church for Christmas mass.
When we get back home we all have dinner, at midnight we hug and we keep partying all night. The next day we all go to one of my uncle’s place and keep celebrating and so on.
Now I will describe Christmas for the last two years in Darlington. First, family of course is not as big, plus, they do not do anything on the night of the 24th, the first time I even freaked out a little. One cool thing that we did was the card run, we went to everyone’s places to leave them Christmas cards, which I thought was awesome. On the morning of the 25th, we woke up and run downstairs to open the presents, then went to Mike’s uncle’s house, everyone was there, we had a little finger food, said merry Christmas to everyone and then more presents time. After that we had lunch. A meal very different to what I am used to, but delicious still. Everything else is just like another day. It was weird, but nice. Now that it was the second year, it even felt better, because I know the family and it just feels a bit more like home (but do not tell my bf that :P) .
Anyway, I believe Christmas is not about the presents, but a time to spend with the family and either in Mexico or in the UK, as long as I get to share a good time with people, share some love and have something to write in the book of memories, I can say it is a great Christmas.
This year there was something else that was amazing. SNOW!!!!! For the first time in my life I got so see some. I finally had a WHITE CHRISTMAS! It was very exciting, I got to build my first snowman, and had a snow fight.
I believe you can never be to old to do something for the first time and based on this thought I enjoyed as if I had been 5 years old. I made snow angels, I ran around stepping on fresh snow, slipped on ice, all those things that for some people can be an every year experience, but for me, it was my first!
So, I just want you to know that Christmas is a time for love, that you can never be to old, and that different is not bad, find the good on everything you do.
Merry Christmas!
