Christmas Continues

I missed a lot about being home this year: the cold and snow (sandals and sunscreen for a Christmas parade?), my father’s cranberry relish (crasins no existen aquí), carrolers, that entire holiday we call Thanksgiving , Nutcracker music, the movie A Christmas Story… although one day I found the movie Elf on TV. That was close. It was on a station that didn’t come in very well at our house, but I watched part of it with my grandmother anyway. The loud gzzzzzzzzzzgzzzz noise was a bit distracting, and since the granny can’t see very well that took away both sensory experiences important for enjoying a movie. I kept telling her, “It’s a funny movie, though. And it’s about Christmas!” but the activity was short-lived.

But the holidays have pretty much ended and we are all back to school, back to work, back to normal. This, of course does not mean Jesus-themed parades don’t still crowd the streets every weekend. (Sunday January 10th we must have seen six Pases de Niño) I thought the Day of the Innocents was formally the end of the “Hoidays”, but we’re still going strong. Apparently, I’ve arrived in Cuenca just in time for an extended party season. With Cuenca’s birthday in November, Christmas parades all December long, New Year, Dia de los Inocentes on Jan 6 and more to come in the following months, I can’t think of a better alternative to five feet of snow.