Enter Christmas

Happy Thanksgiving to my readers from the United States.  Thanksgiving is not celebrated here in Mexico.  I will be spending the day decorating the apartment.

I wanted to buy a nice wreath for the door of my apartment, but one that is made in Mexico.  So many of the Christmas decorations here as well as in the U.S. are made in China.  When I was in Europe this year, I went into a couple of Christmas shops, and even there half of the merchandise was made in China.

One evening, a few days ago I was in  the nearby neighborhood of San Pedro de los Pinos.  I passed by a store that I have visited a few times that specializes organic products.  Looking through the window I could see beautiful Christmas wreaths hanging on the wall.  Although the store was already closed, there were still some people inside.  One of the employees opened the door, and I asked where the wreaths were from.  He told me that they were from the town of Chignahuapan, a town in the state of Puebla whose main industry is the manufacturing of Christmas decorations.  The next day, I returned to the store, and I bought one of the wreaths.  They were very expensive.  The one I selected was one of the smaller ones, and it cost 3500 pesos or 171 U.S. dollars.  But they were  hand-made and so beautiful that I could not resist.

So, my Christmas decorating began with hanging this wreath on the door.

The petals of the poinsettias are actually made from hand-blown glass and painted with a matte finish.

 

I also set next to the door a large figure of a nutcracker that I bought last year.  It comes from a shop not far from Alejandro's family's house.  The owner makes the resin figures from molds and then paints them by hand.

I think I might go back to the shop the next time I am in the neighborhood and buy another one.

The entrance to the apartment is decorated.  Now it is time to move on to the inside.