Oh, Mexico!

It sounds so simple, I just got go. The sun's so hot, I forgot to go home. Guess I'll have to go now.

Am I showing my age?

Anyway...

Our next stop on our Christmas Around The World tour was France, but we didn't make any crafts from France, so I have no photos to share. We were going to make a Buche de Noel, but quite honestly, I ran out of energy that day. Isn't the Williams Sonoma version pretty though? I especially like the meringue mushrooms.

After France, we stopped in Mexico. Let me tell you, people in Mexico know how to celebrate Christmas! We love how their Christmas celebrations revolve around the true meaning of and the reason for Christmas, and how they are all about family and friends. There is nothing commercial about Christmas in Mexico. We all decided that we want to spend Christmas in Mexico next year!

During our study of Mexico, we read a wonderful book by Tommy DePaola about the The Legend of the Poinsettia. It is a beautiful story and one I had never heard until now.

We also learned about Los Posados and read another great book by DePaola. The Night of Las Posadas.

Fortuitously, my brother-in-law is from Mexico, so we asked him to share some of his Mexican family Christmas traditions with us when we had our family Christmas celebration this weekend. It's one thing to read about things like this in a book, but it's so much more fun (and meaningful) to have someone who has experienced those traditions and customs explain them to us. (It was like a home school guest speaker!)

He said that in Mexico, there is a tradition where they put Baby Jesus in a blanket with candy. Two older children or adults hold the blanket and the children walk around it several times. Then each child stops, picks up baby Jesus, gives him a kiss and then takes a piece of candy. After all the children have had a turn, someone takes baby Jesus and puts him in his "bed". Traditionally, this takes place on December 24th, so the Nativity Scene is not complete until that day.

Many Christmas celebrations in Mexico also include a pinata. We tried our hand at making one.

We had big plans to cover it in tissue paper like a real pinata. Again, I was short on energy (and time) and the kids were happy to paint it. Not too shabby.

We filled the pinata with candy and some cheap Dollar Store stuff and broke it at our Family Christmas Celebration. Our stick broke and we couldn't find our plastic bat, so my ever-resourceful husband brought down a light saber to use. Did you know that that plastic light sabers are a big part of Mexican Christmases? I think Tommy DaPoala may have written a book about The Legend of the Christmas Light Saber.

Perhaps we should have reinforced the holes we punched to run the rope through because after the first couple of whacks, the pinata fell. It didn't seem to bother the kids, though.

We loved Christmas in Mexico and were sad to leave, but time is running short and we have a lot of ground to cover. I think we'll travel to England next.