December 25 2016

So This Is Christmas In Cotacachi

chenry 2016, December, Year 3

Enjoy the music to put you in a Cotacachi Christmas state of mind.

Feliz Navidad! The season of angels is here in full force. Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks which we can watch from our casa much to the horror of our little street dogs Texas & Dallas. One of the reason’s I love Ecuador is that the true meaning of Christmas surrounds you. It is not about the receiving of gifts even though they do have a Black Friday here. I still cannot figure out why in the malls all the Christmas songs are in English and not Spanish. Ecuador is mainly Catholic and religion plays a huge role in the Christmas celebration as rightfully so! The season begins with parades of children dressed as Mary ( la Virgen Maria), Joseph (San Jose), angels ( el angel), and little Santa Clause (Papa Noel). Children giggle with excitement to receive little gift bags of animal crackers and candy. Gifts of extra cash are given to our gardener, HOA grounds keeper, and donation to a little village. In return, we receive simple little gifts back which are so appreciated because of the spirit they are given.

Baking is my way of giving gifts to our friends. So our little garden produced lots of zucchini and lemons were abundant on our tree. I made lemon/zucchini cake as gifts. Funny I never liked fruit cake but once you know you cannot have it you want it!. My aunt used to make a white fruit cake that was lighter and delicious. No candied fruit here or at least not what I could find. But one of the little coffee shops had dried fruit. So thanks to Pinterest I found a recipe and created an even better version of white fruit cake that is wonderful with morning coffee. So the best way to think of Christmas in little Cotacachi is not what you do not have but celebrating your blessings.

Dried Fruit White Fruitcake

My little Christmas tree in the front yard has grown so tall this past year that I cannot decorate it any longer.

ribbet-collagexx I went to our little neighborhood grocery store (TIA) and purchased a little tabletop tree for $9.99. A friend had given me cute little ornaments so this year I had to have a little tree. The nice thing was that I spoke to the clerk in Spanish and he understood me! Wow, major accomplishment!. I continue with my weekly Spanish lessons but the process is very slow at least for me,

December is always a busy month of parties! The month kicks off with the La Mirage Tree Lighting which is by special invitation only and the beginning of the Christmas season.

Then there are parties galore at friends’ homes and farms. Maybe it is because our family and friends are far away we join together to celebrate. By the end of December, we begin to feel worn out from attending parties. On Christmas Eve we decided we needed a little time to just enjoy our home. So Bill smoked a turkey, and I made my Mama dressing, homemade cranberry sauce (fresh cranberries from our last trip to Texas), accompanied by mashed potatoes and gravy. We enjoyed the time with each other. On Christmas Day we off to another party to join a group of friends hosted by the owners (friends) at Land of The Sun Hotel for chili and champagne. It is hard to put into words how our social life and friends have grown so much more than we ever had in Texas. We have two new friends that are from my hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. Lots of Texan’s here….amazing since Cotacachi is so small.

So this is Christmas in Cotacachi