Is a hamster a Xmas gift?...and the new way to start the day

So here it is...3 days since Xmas Eve, the day our son arrived and the day the "holidays" officially started for me.  We're currently living in our "casita chica"..the little one bedroom apartment that we originally bought when we fell in love with Zihuatanejo 10 years ago.   And we have made room for Eric who never minds what the sleeping arrangements are as long as he can come for a tropical vacation during the middle of Vancouver's torrential rainfalls.  We're happy he can take this time in his life to come visit us....it won't always happen, but for now he's our link to family.  It's how we spend Xmas.  

After a seafood Xmas Eve dinner to welcome Eric back to his favorite Mexican hangout, we spent Xmas Day doing what we love best in Zihua, eating a great breakfast and heading to the beach for an ocean swim and checking out the hordes of Mexican's who have arrived to spend their holidays.  It really is an amazing transformation when the town suddenly fills with holiday makers from all over Mexico who have their favorite beaches, ramadas, hotels or campsites.  Our neighborhood finds itself the route for large tour buses who inch their way through the streets, carefully lifting the strings of "papeles picados" that decorate the colonia for Xmas. 

This year, we chose to hold a potluck Xmas at Casa Ceiba and the entire residence got in the spirit.  The night was a huge success and personally I felt like it was one of my best Xmas'es ever...why?

Well, I wisely chose to not cook but instead hired Monica to prepare 2 of her specialties...Chiles en Nogado and Chicken Mole.  I did a salad, and our good friends Dee and Mike brought ceviche.  After an evening of listening to the ballads of Juanito, we set up the buffet and continued to dine while Juanito serenaded us into a freestyle of salsa, twist and good old jive.  All along the edge of our pristine turquoise lit pool.   It was magical and so different than Xmas at home.  But that is where the differences began...

During clean up, our Mexican neighbour, Arlene, who is 10 came by to say "Feliz navidad" to "Meees Treesh" as she refers to me...in her newly learned English and Spanish style.   We exchanged pleasantries including finding out that she had been at a party so had been unable to attend our dinner.   But she suddenly ran off asking me to "just a moment..Mees treesh".  A moment later she arrived with my "present"...she said she had brought me my gift...a hamster in a cage with a gold bow attached.  I know I looked surprised and quickly came up with saying that it was indeed a wonderful gift, but I couldn't accept him due to Cori (thank goodness for our dog).  She thought a minute and said...."my mother bought him especially for you"...and now I don't know what to think.  


I know Arlene is a budding thespian,...she did an incredible solo rendition of "So this is Christmas" at the recent posada, and I know she loves acting...but if this was indeed true and her mother brought me a hamster.is it a gift? or is it a punishment for having a dog?  I just can't be sure.....

 

 

But the one thing I am sure of...is that there is a distinct divide between my generation's idea of breakfast and that of my son who is a very healthy, athletic man.   When I watch him prepare his green shakes..I can't help but think of the contents of my vegetable bins being treated similar to the once fashionable (before composting) garbage disposals of the past.   Have we become the modern version of garbage disposals if this is as he tells me the breakfast of the future...pureeed veggies and fruits with a little protein powder thrown in for good measure...and when in Mexico...you must do as the Mexicans do...puree a whole Jalapeno in each blender full..just to be really healthy.  He's a veggie machine and I am feeling more and more like "old school" Betty Crocker when I crave breakfasts things like French Toast or scrambled eggs.  Is his greeny brown liquid  really the breakfast of the future?   2013 here we come!