I just couldn’t let Santa die a final piñata death, so I removed him from his shattered shell and did a bit of reclamation work and now here he is, gracing the door of my garage. If you didn’t see Santa’s former role, the story is here: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2024/12/22/breaking-pinatas-for-cellpic-sunday-dec-22-2024/
Finally, the guests started arriving. Santiago got here first so I gave him some rubber duckies to float in the hot tub. His folks were both near by so no danger. Isidro’s six grandchildren rushed in and surrounded me with hugs and kisses..unprompted! Even the boys. They are such sweet children. Then Yolanda and Yoli and Oscar and Isidro were close behind, lugging a big aluminum pot full of Yolanda’s traditional posada chicken salad to be eaten on tortillas as well as a huge thermos of fruit punch and another of jamaica. We did the piñata first, starting with the tiniest and going uphill to the tallest–and as it turned out, the strongest. Yoli was the heroine who whacked Santa his final blow. Luckily, I think his cute face is salvageable so I can use it on a wall or door next year.Below are all my cellpics of the event. It was sooooo enjoyable and the kids were so excited and all the young adult parents and cousins and brothers and sisters were so fun as well. The kids had as much fun playing hide and seek in my garden and all around the outside of my house..and the inside, actually…as they did whacking the piñata. Here are some pics:
The children were so active, running through the house and out four different doors of the house..in backyard and front yard and yet they were careful, damaged nothing. At one point one of Isidro’s granddaughters saw me pick up a candy bar wrapper from the grass and minutes later went over to kids and told them not to throw anything on the ground and to put the candy wrappers in their hands into the wastepaper basket. She was a very small girl and I thought this was an incredibly thoughtful act. In fact there was no trash around at all. Amazing given the hundreds of pieces of wrapped candy that were being consumed. .Yolanda and Yoli and Ellie and Marie Jose cleared the tables and all the trash, even though I did not ask or expect them to. All in all, a wonderful wonderful experience. The mother of most of Isidro’s grandkids who attended was only about 7 when I first met her. She won a “clean up the lake” poster contest I sponsored. And Alejandra, the mother of two others, attended a kids camp I helped organize and conduct when she was 12 years old. She’s now 27! It’s amazing to live through an entire generation of kids. I’ve been here 23 years. Longest I’ve ever lived anywhere. (If you are worried about Santa’s present condition, here is more of the story: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2024/12/24/santa-makes-a-comeback/
For Cellpic Sunday
If You Break My Piñata
Bug wumples and persnickadoodles.
Gyre-whipped and Polka-dotted.
When I jiggled the piñata of my center-brain,
that’s what fell out.
There’s a whole world in there that’s as open as free love, and
no whippersnapper’s gonna convince me of the opposite.
Why plod when you can boogiesnatch?
Why mince when you can frollope?
Some bug-eyes sit on the fence and just watch the world go by,
but I say you gotta join in the parade.
Shake your wigglewaggle and gyrate your genombres.
They like it that way. They been boxed up too long.
You got a bundersnatch cowering in your credenza.
Open the door and let it boogie out.
It will educate you about the flibberdaddles and teach you the fandango.
Your hips will not know what to do with all they will teach them.
Your toes will flippietoe and your fingers will twiddle.
Your eyeballs will roll in their sockets and your teeth will chatterbox.
Knock-kneed and pigeon-toed, you’ll mince and you’ll canter.
Things will fall from your memory like wrapped candies from a piñata.
You will find toys and prizes and weird hats to change your future.
You will find wind-up creatures that you can wind into life
so they become realer than reality:
blop doodles and freinoys that will perch on your shoulder and execute the tango.
Curlicues to burrow into your ears and open you up to a new kind of music
where the notes are laughter and the rests are heaven.
If you don’t want any of this, then don’t swing your stick at my piñata,
‘cuz if you do and if you are successful,
it will be nothing short of strandacious.
The weak of heart need not play.
This is the dVerse Poets prompt: Say you were going to write a personal ad and didn’t want to waste your or anyone else’s time with a clichéd list of “best qualities”, acronyms on status, race, and sex, or interests such as “love taking long walks on the beach.” (Who doesn’t?) You can write your ad looking for a potential life partner or, visualize your fallen apart soul that has crumbled along life’s rugged path and you are trying to gather all the pieces to become whole once more. Honesty behooves you and your ‘missing part’ as it is the only way to attract that which you seek. Write a poem that only your intended audience will get. Show them who you are, not who you want the world to see.
To see the enlarged photos and read the captions, click on the first photo.
https://ceenphotography.com/2017/02/28/cees-fun-foto-challenge-looking-up-at-things/
As I drove to town the last day of 2016, this was the sight I was met with. I couldn’t stop then as I was in a hurry, but on the way home I stopped and snapped these photos. If you click on the first one, it will enlarge and you can see the captions.
The prompt word today was “year.”
Christmas Posada
The girls in the belly dancing class asked if they could have a posada. If you don’t know what this is, I’ll explain as we go along. They struck a bargain. They’d provide the pinata if I’d provide the prizes, the bolas and the refreshments. Seemed fair to me, so the planning began.
Although the pinata they brought was very pretty, Unfortunately, it didn’t have an opening, so we had to perform a bit of surgery with the cake knife to get the candy in.
Then they provided a bit of entertainment.
Little sisters asked if they could join in, too and they paid close attention to try to follow along.
After the dance came tamales, horchata, cookies and Christmas cake. When Audrey offered chips and guacamole, girl after girl turned them down. Then we tried dipping a chip and offering it. After that, the girls lined up for their own portions. It turns out that none of them knew what they were supposed to do!!! Looks like guacamole and corn chips is a purely American or gringo custom. They polished off the chips and guac!
I am obviously enjoying my tamale. Believe it or not, this is the best of the pictures of me that Audrey took!
Then came the pinata. I suffered a bit of trepidation over the likelihood that someone would be hit over the head with the stick as they dove in for the candy while the girl yielding the stick was still swinging it, but there were no injuries. I wish I knew how to add the video Audrey took. They had so much fun and were so gleeful. This picture doesn’t quite capture the amount of fun they had.
This is the sad remains of the pinata.
Afterwards was the posada. Usually this consists of Mary on a donkey, Joseph by her side, children trailing after. They go from house to house asking for a place to stay for the night. Travellers sing their roles. People in the houses sing theirs. Finally, someone lets them in and they go in to have a pinata and to each be given bags of candy (bolos.) In this case, half went into a room and the rest of us stood outside. We would sing the words asking for shelter. They would sing back that there was no room. We went back and forth a number of times before they finally let us in. The girls were absolutely delighted with this ceremony and all knew the words by heart, although they didn’t do too well with the tune.
Afterwards, we distributed bolos (bags of candy) to each girl to insure each had a good share of the goodies..
One little girl who had brought these beautiful little origami Christmas trees for her special friends presented one to me, Cynthy and Audrey as well. Very touching. Each was so carefully made with tiny balls glued on. They were formed on top of a baby food jar full of Japanese peanuts and little Mexican candy bars that tasted just like Snickers bars–both my favorites. I was so touched by this gesture, as I was by the hand painted box presented to me by Cynthy, who had made it herself.
I surprised her with a fringed suede cloth vest she had tried on in Guadalajara when we went to buy the bangle scarves for the girls to tie around their waists. I had bought it saying it was for Audrey and saved it for Christmas.
All in all it was a lovely night, in spite of the fact that I forgot to bring my camera. Luckily, Audrey brought hers. Thanks, Audrey, for the photos.. The girls, who each brought a friend, were squealy and excited. As I left the Cafetto Saga where we held the Posada, a little boy and a little girl who lived across the street watched me enter my car with great interest. I asked them if they wanted my bag of candy, telling them it was to share. They quickly accepted and ducked into their house to examine the contents. I went down the block to make a U turn and by the time I drove back by their house, there were six children gathered around the bag, excitedly sharing the candy. I loved this generosity on their part. The Christmas Season is alive and well in Mexico.
Feliz Navidad!!!
Earlier I showed my Xmas tree from a few years ago on Silver Lining’s blog. Now I want to show you my this year’s tree. I had thought not to have one since I’m going to my sister’s house in Phoenix for Xmas, but thanks to the generosity of one little girl, I have my very own very special tree as well.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 