77 - CHRISTMAS WEEK 2024
Christmas Eve Celebration has become a tradition that friends eagerly look forward to in Manzanillo. Friends one hasn’t seen since saying “Adios, hasta proxima deciembre” (Goodbye, until next December) feel like you saw them only a few weeks ago. Time has an interesting way of collapsing the intervening months between get-togethers with good friends and acquaintances. The party, as usual, was a great kickoff to Christmas Day.
The above picture was taken at the end of the Christmas Eve party, when the last old friends were finishing their night caps.
Christmas Day morning was quietly spent talking with far away family members, sharing events of this and previous Christmas mornings. Thank goodness for WhatsApp video because your loved ones seem to be in the same room with you!
I hosted three couples for Christmas dinner, which was the least stressful dinner I had ever done - especially a Christmas dinner! One couple brought the cooked and already carved turkey, with a tasty gluten-free stuffing and gravy. Another brought creamy mashed potatoes, and the third, a wedge salad. I contributed dessert - gluten-free carrot cake with cream cheese icing I had made the day before, with a scoop of ice cream. Everyone brought their own drinks, so I didn't even have to tend bar. Easy-peazy!
The rest of the week has been relaxed, batteries being charged for New Year's Eve celebration at the same wonderful casa as last year! Hopefully Maureen and I will know how to operate the elevator that takes us to the rooftop. I hate to admit that last year we were trapped trying to figure out how to make it take us back down until we were rescued when one of the party-goers opened the door from the outside and simply pushed a button - oops!
The day after this Christmas, I opened the GoGoZLO FaceBook page to find an interesting story, with pictures and video, posted by one of my friends who was at a different dinner. During the festivities she attended with some twenty others, they received a gift no one expected!
A beach vender alerted the hosts that a sea turtle was just laying her eggs in front of their house. There is a turtle egg sanctuary close by Walmart with volunteers who will come out and rescue the eggs and keep them safe in the sanctuary for the 90 days it takes for them the hatch. Otherwise, some unsavoury characters find the nest, steal the eggs, and sell them for about 100 pesos each,($7 Canadian) as they are considered a delicacy. The turtle lays between 70 and 100+ eggs in her nest, so it's a real haul for the egg thieves.
My friend's host called the authorities who showed up almost immediately. 107 eggs were rescued.
All the folks at that Christmas Dinner plan to attend the sanctuary in 90 days to watch the eggs hatch - which is a wondrous sight to see.
A number of years ago when Don and I were renting a condo on the beach. a turtle had laid her eggs almost against the foundation of our condo building. Our security guard had been watching over it and called us to witness the hatching. These tiny little creatures dug themselves out of the sand, were very wobbly, turning in all different directions, until each sensed where the ocean was and immediately setting off toward it, gaining strength and speed as they crossed the 100 metres to the water. We, and others on the beach, guarded them from predators in the air while they scrambled to the sea. Unfortunately, we couldn't do anything to help them survive ocean predators. Statistics say about 1 in 1000 survive to adulthood.
As I was writing this week's blog, I received an invitation to dinner at Portofino's Italian restaurant tonight with friends. My usual response of "Why not?" is almost automatic when I'm available, so I now know how this quiet day of writing is going to end - happily with Bruno's gluten-free pasta and fine wine followed by a nightcap across the street.
The world is topsy-turvy, with chaos, wars, tragedies everywhere, but there seems to be a pause to that in my world. I hope you, too, are having a happy time this Christmas Season. For our mental health, we need to take a break from the upsetting news we get bombarded with daily, and celebrate this glorious time of the year.
Hasta proxima semana - Until next week - when I'll be back with tales of New Year's Eve from Mexico.