Hello Christmas

I take a moment in the predawn light of 7 AM Mexico to record Noche Buena - Good Night, or Christmas Eve.

Having become nocturnal about a week ago, I awoke at 5 PM today, ate a bowl of delicious granola with soy milk, and made no-bake cookies with my host mom. They turned out well, except that we lost a considerable portion of the batch to the Dry Crumblies. They'll be good toppings for something, like ice cream, anyway. After pissing away a few hours reading Sophie's World, I went to Mass with my family. This was the second time in my life I ever went to church, and I went only upon my father's strong recommendation. I assure you that my father is rarely wrong (otherwise I probably wouldn't have taken his advice) but he is still sometimes wrong. He was wrong tonight. Mass was boring, hot, stuffy, and had little redeeming value, aside from its brevity.

After Mass, however, we came home, accompanied by several other family members, including some aunts and uncles and both grandmothers. We ate pasta and they ate turkey, they drank tequila and whisky (none of the girls here drink, so why is it so odd that I don't drink? Girls are essentially half the population, aren't they?), and they made me play marimba solos three times over. After a few hours of discussion and new arrivals, which always warranted new marimba solos, they started dancing. I left soon after (around 3 AM, I believe), but they continued until almost 7 AM.

This, you will all realize, is a Long Time to dance, and it is not like what you probably did on Christmas Eve, which was probably to go to sleep early so you could wake up early and open presents. In any other year (any year I haven't become nocturnal over winter break), I would be waking up within the next few hours. Instead, I will probably sleep through most of Christmas day, waking up (I predict) around 6 PM. The sun is rising, and the birds are singing.