Tuesday December 25, 2012 Christmas

Tuesday December 25/12  update #323

Merry Christmas to everyone again, along with our wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year.

We understand it is about -20C in Calgary in the daytime while it is at least +20C in Cuenca.   We couldn’t have ordered a nicer, typical day here because we got a nice quick cleansing rain about 7pm as well.   People may think I am crazy, but for Christmas day I’d rather be where there is snow.  I just couldn’t get into the Christmas spirit with no snow, cool weather, kids, grandkids, presents, tourtiere, etc.  Bella will get to experience this next year.

Roger and Debbie Quilty from Nashville, who have been following my Blogs, arrived last night so I met them this morning and accompanied them to Joe’s for Christmas dinner and games.   I wasn’t staying, I was only there to take a few photos and then to rush home for final cleanup duty before our own company arrived for Christmas dinner.  I gave them a tour of Joe's facility and it wasn’t long before they were mingling with everyone.

Upon arrival at Joe’s they pasted the name of a person on everyone’s back.  Then the object was to ask questions of everyone you walk by to try to guess your secret identity, like Mr. Ed, Ethel Mertz, Rasputin, etc.  It was actually quite fun but everyone couldn’t resist the urge to go beyond yes or no answers.   When the snacks started flowing out of the kitchen I had to leave, they looked so-o-o-o-o good!

When I got home I was scrubbing floors so the house would look presentable, because Rosa doesn’t come again until Friday.

Bella was hoping all our guests would arrive by 4pm so she could serve food right away as the turkey was ready a couple of hours before.   Cooking at this altitude is a challenge in itself without having a stove that won’t go past 350F.   We are looking to insulate the stove very soon so Bella can have better temperature control.

Our company finally did all arrive and we ate as soon as the turkey was carved, etc.  It seems everyone brought some lovely gifts for the cook and Mark brought me a beautiful Christmas tie so I won’t have to keep borrowing his.  We finally reciprocated Christmas dinner from last year with Brian and Shelley who brought their dog Frederica who has to be the most well-behaved, non-barking dog I have ever met.  The Boys were wary of Freddie but there were no incidents of any kind even though they passed within a foot of each other many times..

The food was delicious but the turkey was Jekyll and Hyde, some portions very moist and others very dry.  The guests were most complimentary and everyone left again around 8pm to be sure to get cabs home.

That was today’s excitement.   Hugs to all.   Please see all photos at http://souvenircuenca.blogspot.com/