Blah-ditty-blah

ok. . . now, the other part of my weekend. one of my coworkers, tracy, asked if i was interested in going out to dinner with a few people and then heading out to espanola for their christmas parade. . . . i did make that face that made her say something to the effect that it wasn't going to be as cheesy as i thought. . . that it was really a good time, and the whole town sets out to outdo one another, sometimes just covering their low-riders in christmas lights and parading them around. . . and since i had nothing else better to do, i agreed. i ended up having a really good time. . . and well, here's a shot of what i think was the most impressive float. . . it's part of of some cement company. . . and the articulated arm on the vehicle was made out to be a set of flying reindeer which worked so well. . .


with the action of the arm it seemed like there was a set of reindeer diving and climbing through the sky with st. nick close behind. there were a bunch of really cute ones, like a toy train set all lit up. . . made from a riding lawn mower. . . and several others, but many of my pictures were blurred. there was one other, rather fantasic set up with a float in back that had a snowmaking machine spitting out snow along the way, and a small working ferris wheel and merry-go-round. . . this is a shot of the merry-go-round.


the whole time sitting on the road median, wrapped in blankets, i passed around some of my freshly made (mom's recipe) rum balls. . ..which, believe it or not, kept us a little warmer!

there was the potential of going to a tamale making party the next morning. . . but jared and i both had a few other things to accomplish before setting out for sunday night's festivities. . .

i don't know what it's called (and it does have a name, i just can't think of it) but sunday there was a 'reinactment' of mary and joseph traveling to find a safe place to have the baby jesus. . . .apparently it's done every year. people gather in the plaza, and two people dressed as mary and joseph lead a group of singers and a couple of guitar players around the plaza knocking on doors seeking shelter. (i also don't know what they were singing, and it being in spanish, and me being an american who has only partially learned some french in highschool. . . i was only able to hum along) anyway. . . as mary and joseph approach different doorways and knock a devil pops out from the rooftop above and yells back at them inspanish that they are unable to stay here. . . . or something like that---again. . . me no speaketh spanish.

it's a little hokey. . . especially the devil, which has people shining flashlights on him, all dressed in red with some sort of face painting going on. but a fun kind of hokey. when he shows up and yells at the couple. . . . all the audience people, candles in hand boo and hiss at him. . .. then mary and joseph proceed to the next house. . . . they do this until they come to the palace of the governor's where they are finally admitted. . .. everyone cheers, and we are all invited in as well to sing christmas carols and drink hot cider.

here's a shot of the hokey devil. . . it was really dark . . . my flash wasn't reaching him, so i photoshopped it a bit, just to make it visible. . .

anyway. . . . that was my weekend. hope you all had fun!