"It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas..." somewhere in the world including at Pan de Vida - as long as that looking like Christmas includes decorations and trees and things, but not if looking like Christmas is supposed to mean freezing temperatures and snow.



They do decorate in the Dining Hall / Auditorium and they hang lights and garland on some of the dormitories. But for someone who has spent 41 Christmases in Manitoba, always surrounded by cold and snow, this really doesn't feel like Christmas. We seem to be stuck in August or September.

The one thing that is really neat about Christmas in Mexico is that I have heard of no battles regarding the placement of manger scenes as we so often hear about in Canada and the U.S. With Mexico's strong Catholic influence there is no question that Christmas is depicted in public places in a patently Christian way.

In fact in one of the main city sqaures there is a large Christmas display that features the entire story of God's interaction with humanity. Since we can't read and understand the Spanish plaques that describe the various scenes we have to surmize what they all mean.



In one corner there are statues of a number of demon-like characters which we suppose depicts the fall of Lucifer.



A little further along there are two idyllic looking people whom we take to be Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. However, it must be after the Fall since they are fully clothed in traditional Mexican dress.



Around the corner from Adam and Eve is a large serpant and a large, bright, red apple - which we assume depicts the Temptation that led to Adam and Eve's Fall.



There is also a village scene with children playing and adults sitting outside their houses. We're not sure if this is intended to depict life before or after the coming of Christ.


Then, of course, the centerpiece is a large stable and manger scene that feature Mary and Joseph with shepherds, kings and other people whose role I'm unsure of. There are even large elephant, horse and cow statues. As well there is a tent that looks like it contains a pirate's buried treasure which I surmise to be the treasure brought by the Magi to the Christ Child.

However, when we were there, the manger was empty, but I am assuming that the baby Jesus will arrive during the festivities of this coming week. I'm not sure if we will try to take this in or not since around Christmas we have found the Central part of the city is very congested with people and cars on very narrow streets and sidewalks; more congested than usual.

I am amazed that Mexican people in cars are in such a hurry to get to where they are going that they honk at the slightest provocation. This past week a pickup truck nearly blew a horn honking at me for not turning right on a red light. But you put Mexican people on a sidewalk and they saunter as though they have all the time in the world. I just don't understand.



In the middle of the main square downtown there is a large bandstand and even this bandstand is decorated with large poinsettas attached to the railing.



One block over from this large display is another square with a fountain that covers a large underground parking garage - which is also decorated with a Christmas tree and a manger scene. In this square there is a huge artificial Christmas tree.



All of the flower beds have been planted with Poinsettas. It is magnificently beautiful to see the many Poinsettas planted outside here at Christmas time. That reminds us that we are definitely not in Manitoba this Christmas.



In one of the government building courtyards located off another square in the historic downtown of Queretaro called the Plaza de Armas, there is a large Christmas tree constructed out of what we used to call "kuegeln". It's a unique and very pretty sight that is surrounded by other decorations.

So you see, while it may look a lot like Christmas, it still doesn't feel like Christmas, despite the fact that we have finished Christmas shopping much earlier and more simply than we have in any year in recent memory.

So if we don't write here again until a time that is too close to your Christmas celebrations for you to have time to read it before your celebrate - please allow me and our family to wish you all a very Merry Christmas filled with the peace and love that can only come from the Prince of Peace whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.