Una Fiesta Para Nuestros Amigos....

Tradition has it that whoever finds the "Baby Jesus" in the Rosca cake (on Three King's Day) has to buy the tamales on Candlemas Day.   Candlemas Day is February 2....  that's also Groundhog Day in the United States, and Bill's birthday is February 3.  Many of our friends hadn't yet visited us here in our "new" house....  So what better reasons could there be to have a party?

And....  party we did!

Bill & I had fun decorating our patio and the driveway.  We expected about 40 guests so we rented extra tables and chairs. Our friend Nancy brought these strings of banners to add to the festivities.

This is Juan ...   Paisa

Juan can often be seen playing music...  entertaining folks on the beach.  He plays traditional Mexican songs, and just a few days ago he came to our Spanish class and we all sang the State song of Nayarit (the state we live in).  We asked him to play for an hour or so at our party...  I think he played non-stop for several hours!  We all loved it!

Tamales are traditional food on Candlemas day....  and tamales we had!

Here's Ari, a local caterer.  She not only served tamales but also chile rellenos, arroz, and frijoles....  along with Atole, a traditional flavored corn drink.  Ari set up her steam table at the end of the driveway...  she must have cooked for days to serve such a wonderful meal to us all!

That's Judy who's being served here.

Lots of beer and wine...  lots of food... 

But best of all...  lots of good friends to share a great evening!

That's Gunn, Elaine and Don, and Andreas

Petra, Don, Andreas, Rosa and Celia

I don't know why they all look so serious....

 That's Don in the background...  Kathryn and Sherry chatting before dinner.

 Many of the guests brought salads, snacks or deserts....  

We all enjoyed the "starters" before Ari arrived with the dinner.

That's Ed, Judy and Petra...

Armando's mother Norma had just gone back to Colima the day before, so she couldn't attend.  I think Robert is showing me how well he and Armando ate while Norma was here.  That's Nancy and Flacco (Skinny) in the foreground.  

My camera got passed around...  I know Bill had it for a while...  also our friend Pia....  So I'm not sure who to credit these with.  All I know is I'm glad they did.  Also, Santos (who has his back to the camera) took photos and videos.  He posted them on Facebook and I loved them!  I tried to post my videos, but haven't been able to so far.

Here's Rosa, her son, Carol and Patty with Celia and Santos on this side.

And we danced!

Juan (Piasa) played dancing music...  that's Juan, Patty, Nancy and Santos out there now.

We made a couple dozen copies of the State song of Nayarit...  and everyone sang that.  Makes me smile just to think of it!

 Pia pointing out something to Ed...

 Memo and Suzanne....

 Jim Juan, Bill and Kirk

 When Juan (Piaso) played at our Spanish class I recorded a video.  I played it for him at our party.  I just loved watching the expression on his face as he watched himself play.  Priceless!

 Gary, Suzanne, Juan, Pia, Armando, Robert and LeeAnn

 Ed, Jim, Don, Elaine, Kirk, Kathryn Chris...  and some others...

The evening turned into night...

We partied on....

 Okay... back to daylight...  Don and Elaine, and Gunn and Elaine's friend...

This is me... holding a birthday cake (with the candles burning brightly)...  Bill ready to blow them out...  Juan playing the birthday song and everyone singing.

One parting shot...

That's Chris...  waving to the camera...

We feel so fortunate to have made so many friends here in our "adopted" town.  And there are even more who aren't among these folks.  So, whether you celebrated Candlemas Day, Groundhog Day... or even someone's birthday, it would be hard to top the joy we had here.  It was a great fiesta with our friends!

That's All for Today!