It often amuses some of us who have been here a while when we hear newcomers bemoaning the few highly specialized items they can’t purchase here.
I heard someone the other day complaining because she couldn’t find wrapping paper with matching name tags, bows and package ornaments.
I tried to be compassionate, but it wasn’t easy. Especially when the nurseries are filled with a rainbow of different colored poinsettias in multitude of sizes, and there are beautiful fresh, fragrant Christmas trees, and Walmart, Soriana and other stores are stocked to the ceiling with lights, garlands and ornaments.
What a difference this bounty of holiday décor is from my first Mexican Christmas in 1990. When my realtor realized how important it was for me to have a tree for my new house, he took me to Guadalajara and we scoured the city from one end to the other until we finally found a scraggly artificial tree, three strands of really tacky lights and two dozen ornaments. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. I put it all together on the deck of my new house. Feeling a bit sad, I sagged into the giant equipale chair, and looked out over the tops of palm trees to the view of the lake and the mountains beyond. With everything back in perspective I looked at the silly tree and laughed as I remembered the year before.
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