We went to church on Christmas Eve, to the "Blue Church" on the corner of 5 de Mayo and Melchor Ochampo. The Iglesia Cristiana Congregacional Church is fondly known as the English Church and has become part of our Christmas Eve tradition in Mazatlan. The music is phenomenal and the hour spent in the church has become an important part of the Eve. Special enough to attend each Sunday? I am not a 'church-goer' but am sorely tempted, if just for the choir and the musicians! After the service we wandered the streets of the 'hood, admiring the decorations and chuckling at the excitment of the children. Christmas Eve is the same everywhere, filled with children that we all know are not going to sleep a wink all night. The balance of the evening was spent with friends and then we headed home up the hill to snuggle into bed and to wait for Santa.
We blissfully slept in a bit on Christmas morning as our neighbours who normally leave for work at 6 am were obviously not working, and we have no little ones to shake us out of our beds. We did have to get up, however, as we were having friends for brunch, and I needed to cook. It was pea-soup fog when we woke up (a "White Christmas" maybe?), but by the time our company arrived at 10, the sun was out and we were able to dine al fresco on the terrace.
Brunch was a strata (recipe found on-line and a definite 'make again'), pan fries, a lovely fruit plate (provided by our guests) and of course, champagne and freshly squeezed orange juice. Not a bad start to the day.
After taking a break to regroup, we then headed down the hill (notice all the ups and downs the hill we take) to have Christmas dinner with neighbours. It was a small group, about 20 of us, and it was wonderful. Our host and hostess provided the turkey, stuffing and dressing and the rest of us brought the trimmings and we dined like kings! One of the guests brought homemade egg nog, 'seasoned' with bourbon and rum and I truly cannot explain how delicious that was!
Boxing Day was to be a beach day, which did not happen. We woke up, looked at each other, sighed heavily, looked at the lounge chairs on the terrace, and stayed home! We needed to regain our strength, prepare for Monday at the Library, Mike's golf on Tuesday, and New Year's Eve which apparently will be here soon!
Feliz Navidad to all, hope your holiday was wonderful and your New Year is filled with Peace and Love.
It sounds like you did indeed have a very merry day on Christmas!Guess what I had a type of strata for our brunch here called a Christmas morning wife saver. It was delicious and the fam was impressed with the spread we put out.Seemed like we spent all day eating way too much but it was awesome and we feel very fortunate to be so blessed.
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