New Year, New Calendar

First day of the new year means I had to choose a new calendar. I receive many mailing labels from charitable organizations, and a number of them have sent me calendars, too. I like the one with flowers, so I will keep that one in the kitchen where we write down all our appointments. The calendar with pictures of wild life is very attractive, too. Maybe that will go in my sewing room--don't have to check that one for coming commitments. I keep a mini calendar by the telephone in the kitchen/dining area. The medium-size calendar with the pictures done by the Mouth and Foot Painting Artists is kept by my computer.

Then there is still another calendar that I frequently refer to and that is the pocket sized one where I keep all the information that is on the first calendar--the one in the kitchen with everyone's appointments. I carry that calendar in my purse. It is handy to have all that information with me when I am at the dentist's office and need to make the next appointment. I know some people keep their calendar in their computer, but I need to have all these calendars to keep me informed of what is coming up next.

The calendars that I remember when I was a child were usually hung in the kitchen area. I remember a popular picture of a calendar was of a beautiful couple of Indians. I remember reference being made to the woman as "La Mujer Dormida" and of the man as "Popo." Not much else explanation do I remember being given at the time. If it was, it probably had little meaning to me at the time. It was not until probably about the time I was a teen-ager that I learned about the legend of the star-crossed lovers Mixtli and Popoca. It is a beautiful story (reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet) of the formation of the volcanoes Ixtaccihuatl  and Popcatépetl.

The other type of calendar I remember we had was one courtesy of the funeral home or of the Catholic church. I liked that one better because every day had the name of a saint. I never found my name among the saints' in the calendars, but I remember that San Fidel was the name on my birthday. The other thing the calendar had were symbols of fish for every Friday and other days designated to be meatless days. I think during Lent there were lot of "fishy" days, too. It also listed the holy days of obligation--when we had to go to Mass! I think I mainly enjoyed reading all the names of the Saints and hoped that one day there would be a saint listed with my name.

       

It is the Last Day of 2008

It’s the last day of 2008. Looking back on the year I continue to be an optimist. We had our 401(k)s go down the drain, gasoline prices went to heights never imagined, fires in California were devastating, etc. But, as little orphan Annie sang, “Tomorrow, tomorrow is a day away.”


2009 will start with grandson’s first birthday on the 8th of January. He visited with us for a week during Christmas, and we miss his not being here. He is such a charmer, not yet walking, but can crawl faster than his abuela can keep up with him.

Grandson--all boy!

For the first time in several years we were able to bring our entire California family together for Christmas day. We did our traditional toast before sitting down to enjoy a repast of ham, turkey and all the sides, salads and trimmings. I am always afraid that there will not be enough food, but, of course, there are always many left overs—glad to have two refrigerators for these occasions.
 

 

 Our California Clan

So tonight, New Year’s Eve, we will quietly watch the new year come in on television as we have done for many years.


I remember when I was a child that Mom and Dad always looked forward to celebrating New Year’s Eve by going to some dance in Corpus Christi with a big-name band from Mexico or from the US. Since my dad did not drive, they always got together with one or more married couples. My sis and I would stay home with my grandmother or great grandmother. When Mom and Dad would get home from the dance I would already be asleep, but in the morning we would find the party hats and noisemakers that had been distributed at the dance. What confused me was that in the movies people always made lots of noise as the new year came in, and my sis and I could not make noise even with the newly acquired noisemakers because Mom and Dad were still asleep. Even if I went outside to play with the noisemaker, I could not get excited that it was a new year.