When Is Santa Claus Arriving?

Perhaps it was because of my mother's German and Swiss heritage, but back in Ohio where I grew up, we always opened our gifts on Christmas Eve.  Here in Mexico, the traditional day for the giving of gifts is January 6th, the Day of the Magi Kings.  However, those families who exchange presents at Christmas, usually open them at midnight on Christmas Eve.

Before I moved down here, I would usually arrive in Mexico for my winter trip in time for the Day of the Magi Kings, so that is when I would give presents to Alejandro and his family.  But now that I live in Mexico, when do we open gifts?  I figured that we could do it on Christmas Eve after supper.  Last year, my first Christmas with my Mexican family, my sister-in-law and nephew were both under the weather, and did not feel like opening presents until late afternoon on Christmas Day.

This year on the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Alejandro and I drove across town to the house of his cousin Silvia and her family.  We had some goodies to take to them, and Silvia had made "bacalao a la vizcaína" (Basque-style cod) for us to take home.  "Bacalao" is one of the most typical dishes for Christmas Eve supper.  Of course we couldn't just deliver our goodies, take the "bacalao", and dash off.  We stayed for more than an hour and had a nice visit.  Then we drove to the home of Alejandro's favorite aunt and uncle.  We had more goodies for them, and his Aunt Araceli had "picadillo" (a Mexican ground beef hash) and a big bowl of apple salad for us to take back.  Again, we sat and talked for a while.  By the time we got back to the house, it was after 9:00 P.M. and it was 10:00 before we sat down for our very late Christmas Eve dinner.  It was midnight by the time we were done, and it was decided that the gifts would have to wait until Christmas Day after breakfast.  I was tired, and even though the neighbors across the street were setting off fireworks, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.  

Everyone, except for me, slept in, so our breakfast was late too.  We had the leftover "bacalao", "picadillo", and apple salad plus another traditional Christmas dish, "romeritos", a kind of wild greens that are served in a "mole" sauce.

With breakfast finally over, I brought in the gifts that Alejandro and I had bought for the family.  I piled them up on the dining room table.

  

Alejandro's father Pedro is always cold and is always bundled up in several layers of clothing.  (Yes, it gets chilly in Mexico City, especially in the winter.)  So we bought him warm, snuggly things to wear, such as this silly cap, knitted gloves and a sweater made in Peru.  We found all these items at the Christmas market along Paseo de la Reforma a couple weeks ago.

For Alejandro's sister Sandra we bought mainly clothes, including the cap with butterflies (she loves butterflies) and a shawl-like wrap for cool mornings and evenings.

Sandra's son Ezra also got a lot of clothing.  He will start high school next year, and, since he will not longer be wearing a school uniform, he is going to need a lot of clothes. But he (like the rest of the family) loves dogs.  So, I always buy him a calendar with pictures of dogs to hang in his bedroom.

My big present to Alejandro was something that he has mentioned a couple of times in the past.  I went to Radio Shack and bought him a drone.

Finally, I bought something for the entire family, a very nice fondue set that I found at the Liverpool Department Store.  Alejandro and I have eaten a number of times at a fondue restaurant close to the apartment.  But Pedro, Sandra and Ezra have never eaten fondue.  I also bought them a couple of vacuum packed boxes of fondue cheese imported from Switzerland.

And then, Alejandro brought out a gift for me... a large, heavy box.  It was something that I really needed, a printer!

So, Santa arrived a little later than expected, but he was very good to everyone!