Fiesta del árbol

Ξ November 17th, 2007 | → 3 Comments | ∇ Christmas, Christmas in Costa Rica, Costa Rica, Family, Food, Humor, Life in Costa Rica, Living in Costa Rica, Maria Luisa |

Tomorrow is the big day.

ML has invited Costa Rica to come to our home for the annual tree decorating thing. Well of course she did not invite the whole country, just her relatives which is no more then ten percent of the people here. My son, his wifey and my granddaughter are coming too, so there will be some representation from North America. I invited some childless friends to attend but they suddenly had other things to do. Even free booze could not budge them when faced with 20 plus children.


A large number of these people will be under the age of 15. Maria has been cooking for two days and the house smells super. Maritza baked a cake last night, but had to bake another one today as I sort of ate the one from yesterday. My sweet tooth coupled with chocolate is an issue around here… and especially around the holidays.

I actually love these parties. Ticos do know how to enjoy a party and my wife’s family, with a few notable exceptions, are great people. Christmas is for kids and I am generally popular with the youngsters who may confuse my stomach with that of Senior Clause, especially after that cake episode!

I am not going to rehash what it is like at these parties as I have blogged about this here and here, so you can just click those links if you need background on the cultural differences I face at party time.

I cannot believe I bought an artificial tree! When I lived up North, buying the tree was an event! We almost always traveled away from Chicago to the tree farms in northern Illinois and cut exactly the right one. It always stayed fresh and of course it was “perfect”. We returned home with frozen feet and warm hearts. I would build a fire in the fireplace and then enjoy hot chocolate with marshmallows!

Here, you too can cut it fresh, and we have done that in past years. The issue is the trees, while true “pine” trees, are skinny and just do not “look” like Christmas trees! The fresh ones lasted of course, but the lot-bought ones kinda faded early. The really good ones, imported from the US are very expensive so we just decided the go artificial.

ML picked a nice style that came with 1,000 lights. It is now in the garage awaiting the tree decorating thing tomorrow.

As there is “some” assembly required, it may be smart to go unpack it and get the tree and the lights up and ready, leaving the hanging of balls, tinsel, whatever for tomorrow. Ticos have a reputation of sorta getting sauced early, especially if the booze is free, and the thought of another badly decorated tree makes me tend to the cautious side.

So tomorrow represents our start to the Christmas holidays, and I want to wish Happy Holidays to my readers and to anyone who has mis-clicked and found this blog by accident.

 

3 Responses to ' Fiesta del árbol '

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  1. Saratica said,

    on November 18th, 2007 at 7:51 am

    The cake incident made me and Hal laugh out loud. We need tree pictures… we didn’t celebrate last year, just had one purple ball hanging around. It was a huge relief. I was planning the same thing for this year but my maid is SO disappointed that we won’t be decorating. I’m afraid she’ll quit! So I’m changing my tune… I’m thinking Norfolk pine… Remember: tree photos!!!

  2. Miguel said,

    on November 19th, 2007 at 1:35 am

    Hola Mi Amigo,

    Hey…which comes first the turkey or the tree? ?Ellos no tienen un dia de gracias? Sounds like quite the celebration…enjoy!

  3. Tim said,

    on November 19th, 2007 at 10:30 am

    Hi Miguel!

    If you are referring to the calendar, turkey day is first. If speaking about my wife, Christmas starts in late July.

    to SaraTica – See today’s follow up post.

    There is one tree photo, but if you are feeling a tad masochistic, go to the Flickr link for more.

    A word to the wise… every housekeeper we have had was very serious about Christmas. Best not to mess around lest she think you pagans and decide to leave!

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