Wednesday, December 17, 2008

CHRISTMAS

The Christmas season is here if you haven't noticed. This time it came with snow as well. On Monday we got at least about an inch and a half of the white stuff, which is a lot by our standards here in Vegas (0.in avg per year) Today it was supposed to start snowing at about 4:00in the morning but it only started to fall in the last hour. By tonight it should be everywhere. They are even predicting lots of snow along the strip.


Kipper seemed to enjoy the snow more than LuLu did. Every time we opened the back door, he jumped right outside and did not want to come in. Of course once he came in, what a mess!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in a church program where gifts were delivered to needy families here in Vegas. These are people who either do not have a job or have the means to provide gifts for their children. Some of these places did not have a single decoration or a small tree that tells them it's Christmas. There were about 60 families who received food boxes and gift certificates in addition to the actual gifts. It is something worth doing for people that deserve it. I got to do it as well through our workplace last week. In our department we adopted a family who scored really well with cash donated, gifts, gift certificates and more.





It hit close to home because as a child growing in Mexico, I saw "familiar faces" in the 3 homes we went to. I say familiar because frankly I do not remember having a Christmas as what my kids now do. We were also of limited resources so our Christmases as I remember them, were slim. They got better as I got older.

On to a different subject.

Last week our bike trip was through Red Rock National Park. A scenic loop that goes for about 12 miles through a beautiful area of Southern NV.




The first 4.5 miles was rough because of the climb - nothing but uphill. Once you reach the top, it goes down where you can go really fast and with a couple of long uphills. The previous week we went to Blue Diamond where I thought I had lost my friends. It turned out that they got too far ahead of me and by the time I found them, they were on top of a hill. By that time it was time to get back so I did not make it all the way to the top.

Here's wishing you all a Happy Merry Christmas and everything else good that you wish and desire. Hope you get it all.

Monday, December 01, 2008

THE SMELL OF CHRISTMAS


So it comes again.
December, Christmas and everything in between. Football Games (NFL). End of the College football season, College basketball defining who will be going to the "Big Dance" in March. Obviously I'm a sucker for college sports.
Oh yeah, Christmas.
What are you wishing for?.
It used to be very simple. you bought a few little things for your brothers, sisters or parents. A set of socks, perfume, a box of chocolates, a pretty sweater and you would also get something similar in return. You would also visit a friend's house and partake of whatever food or beverages they had to offer.
Indeed, very simple. You were able to "smell" Christmas in the air. The smell came from the boiling of fruit for "ponche" (hot fruit punch). It also came from the burning powder of fireworks - small tiny ones that you would light from the side of a box of matches and throw into the sky. There are lots where you could buy Christmas Trees, this must be universal around the world. The trees of course had their own smell, so all these assorted smells mixed in and that to me, that was the smell of "Christmas".
Of course that was also a long time ago in Mexico, prior to my move to the States.
My wish is to get a whiff of the Christmas smell.
What's your wish?