Friends at Christmas

Thanks for all my friends.

Learning a new language in Mexico

These past couple of days, I've been working hard to learn a new language while living in Mexico.  And, you may be surprised to hear that it's not Spanish - but Bella-ese.

Yes, our friends left us in their house on Sunday to go back to the US - but they didn't take their little dog Bella with them. Instead, she is in our care.

Now we know Bella quite well.  When our friends come to our home in the US, they normally bring Bella with them and while we go out for dinner, she stays home with Harold our parrot.  Harold talks to her all night - but Bella stays quite quiet.

Anyhow, since we've been her carers for the last few days, I've been trying to figure out Bella's language - ie Bella-ese.  I have to say her vocabularly is limited.  It is also situational in that one word may mean something in one context, but something else totally different in another context.  So it gets tricky!

Here's what we have understood so far....

• "Ruff, ruff" in a gentle way, when on the floor by the bed means "Lift me up. I sleep on a bed too but my legs are too small to jump up there".  She is having to learn however that in our world, dogs don't sleep on beds!  This is proving to be a tricky lesson for her and we get more and more "ruff, ruff's" every night - and even in the middle of the night!
• "Woof, ruff"  spoken with a big dog attitude means "get away - don't come in.  I'm busy".  These words are only spoken when we are in the house and the same room as Bella and someone comes in the front door.  If we aren't around or it is us coming in  - she doesn't even stir.
• "Buff, bruff" means "I want to come up and sit with you so that you can do nothing but stroke my head and give me all the love you have!"
• "Riff, ruff" means "I want my basket.  As I'm not allowed on the bed, you've left it in the bedroom and now I want to sleep in it downstairs".

So yes, we are all finding our boundaries during this time of learning.  In the meantime, Harold is far away at home winding our friend Cassie around his little finger. Cassie is kindly taking care of him while we are away and no doubt he is busy talking away to her too!  I guess we'll all be bilingual when we get home!

And as this post is all about dogs, I have to conclude with my favorite dog Christmas video. I shared it with you last year - but it's still worth watching!

Posadas

We joined our first Posada in San Miguel de Allende this evening.  Nine different posadas are taking place this week, from different churches and neighbourhoods in the city.  A posada is a type of parade which shows a re-enactment of Mary and Joseph's pilgrimage to Bethlehem asking for shelter.

In today's, a small truck had a scene of Bethlehem created on the back and three children dressed as Mary, Joseph and an angel. They were carefully secured to the truck so there would be no injuries as they drove along!!  The parade set off at 7.30pm, escorted by the police, and a crowd started to follow on behind.

As the parade moved, a band played and then the crowd sang a chant/song which is Mary and Joseph's request for lodging.  After each chant, there was no room at the inn and so they continued to move forward...  and the crowd kept growing and growing......with two very tall ladies bringing up the rear!!:

 and some smaller ladies peering from their their balconies....

It was fun to see everyone joining in - there were hundreds of people by the end and the parade lasted a long time. It all ended at one of the churches with Mary and Joseph knocking on the door and everyone being let in. Finally there was room at the "inn".

Sunday's spotlight - Dancing Santas but not around our Christmas Tree

By guest blogger Pete.

In last week's blog I wrote to you about our adventures with the real Christmas tree that I had been entrusted to obtain. However, last week's episode wasn't the complete picture because, as everyone knows, Christmas trees, real or artificial, need decorations and lights. We do have some but these have been used for years to beautify the artificial tree we erect in the lounge. It must be something like ten years since we last bought those lights for the artificial tree (and a very realistic artificial one it is) and no mean achievement that they're still lighting on demand.


The best place to buy Christmas tree lights in Lincoln is from a large D.I.Y. store on the outskirts of the city. Thus it was to this D.I.Y. Nirvana that Pam and I set off. Upon arrival we were met by an astonishing array of tree lights for outdoor use, indoor use and for both outdoor and indoor use. Now this visit took place some 3 weeks of so before Christmas so imagine our surprise when we found that the store has sold out of a large proportion of their lights, even some of those on display, Talk about "whetting the appetite"! However, the good news was that the remaining lights had been reduced by 50% so, consoling ourselves with this information, we bought two sets of lights from the real tree.


Christmas decorations and ornaments of the non lighting up variety were in abundance in this store. I soon had all the Fr Christmases "ho, ho, hoing", the reindeer rocking to jazzed up Christmas carols and assorted other animals doing various things. Well, there was a little sticker on them inviting me to "press here"! Every one of these ornaments had the common feature of a Christmas carol but here they were all different and playing at differing times so by the time we had some dancing Santas doing their stuff on the store floor we'd gathered quite an appreciative audience around us. The staff at "B & Q" - the D.I.Y. store in question - were most understanding about the eccentric behaviour of this elderly customer and even seemed to enjoy the fun.


The school children came to church, just before the end of their term, for the annual Christingle Service. For those unfamiliar with the Christingle idea, the children collect money for "The Children's Society" and, in return, they're given a Christingle. Now a Christingle is an orange with a candle stuck into the top. There is a red band around the middle of the orange and wooden tooth picks with sultanas, raisins and sweets on them, stuck into that orange. The orange represents the world and the candle the light that Christ brings into that world. The red band is for the blood of Christ shed for us and the goodies on the tooth picks are for the fruits of the earth given to us by God. The usual (dangerous sometimes) custom is that the candles are lit but with such young children it was thought best to light only the candles for the 6th year children, which a teacher, with a lot of puff, blew out after each child had walked about ten yards to where she was standing. Every child, however, was given a Christingle. It was a very happy occasion for everyone there.


The photos this week are of computer paintings. Hope you enjoy them.


Remember the Christmas season goes on until January 6th so keep on celebrating Christ's birth.

Christmas Delights - Take a 5 minute break....it's storytime

Take a little break - just 5 minutes. Sit down and listen to this little story. It's less than 5 minutes long, and you'll be glad you took the time. It'll warm your heart and make you feel like you've had 30 minutes instead!



I have a few little Christmas things to share with you.. this is just the first.... And if you have a favorite story or video, do let me know..... Would be good to find some new ones....

Cold hands, warm heart.

The weather is getting colder....I hear on the forecast about snow falling ......and so I thought I'd make a little winter warmer piece.

Here is my "Cold hands, warm heart" necklace:


Yes, poor little penguins always have cold hands - winter or summer. But this special penguin has a lovely warm heart. If he came to live with you, he'd warm your heart, for sure!

This first little penguin is just a small guy - 2 cm tall, but now I've made him, I'm going to make another one a little bit larger.....

...with a bigger, warmer heart....