It's Christmas Eve day and everyone is rushing around town trying to get the last few things they need for tonight's celebration and finish their Christmas gift list. Tempers are frayed. More cars are honking than usual. If you are going to venture anywhere near the Piño Suarez mercado, you need football shoulder pads. But what's going on now is nothing compared to what tonight will be like.
If this is your first Christmas in Mazatlan, you may be very surprised by how Christmas Eve is celebrated. I know I was. I came from a place where Christmas Eve is either a solemn and beautiful night with midnight mass or an evening of congenial parties with fresh tamales and good friends. We celebrated, but we did it in the house – and quietly.
Here in Mazatlan, the evening will be raucous with loud music and sometimes live bands at neighborhood parties. Extended families and friends and neighbors get together and celebrate with food and music, usually out of doors. There are fireworks. When you hear the lull around midnight, you may think it is over. But it's not. It is quiet because everyone is opening their gifts. Never fear, shortly everyone will be back outside playing with their new toys. Around 1:00 AM, the piñata will be strung up and the children will take turns whacking it until it disgorges its booty of candy and toys. Last year, our neighbors' party didn't fizzle until 5:00 AM. You may want to get a nap this afternoon if you can.
In contrast, Christmas day is quiet. If you go for a walk, you can easily walk down the center of the street without fear of getting run over. You won't see a single car or even another person. It's kinda odd, but also really neat, to tour Mazatlan as if it were a ghost town. In the late afternoon, you can watch the families out strolling and showing off their gifts in the plazas. That is one of my favorite parts of the day.
A word of warning: everything is absolutely closed on Christmas. Make sure you have enough toilet paper, drinking water, booze, food, and gas to cook with to make it through. Two Christmases ago, we had family in town until late on the 24th. I was too tired to stop on the way home from the airport to do any shopping. For Christmas dinner we ate saltines, ketchup, and capers. Seriously.
Merry Christmas everyone and enjoy tonight.
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|189.174.207.xxx |m-d-Y H:i:s bstoryAnd a very Merry Christmas to you & yours. May your New Year be a prosperous one!
Bob & Lee
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Have a nice year end holiday.
Angel