The More the Merrier

Since college, I've been challenged to think about the ways I had always thought about hospitality.

I went to a Lutheran college, and maybe it was just the people I hung out with and their families, but ELCA Lutherans (other Lutherans, you may be just as good about this, but I've got a lot more ELCA friends than LCMS or smaller denominations), in my experience, tend to go above and beyond when it comes to being hospitable. For example, at a friend's wedding a few hours from my house, I had some vague plans about where I'd stay, but nothing had been formalized. Once I ran into my friends coming in from the East Coast, I figured that we'd split the cost of a hotel room together. However, one of these friends had an aunt and uncle in the town near where the wedding was held. By the end of the rehearsal dinner, my friend had invited at least 5 of us back to her relatives' house. I was a bit nervous to see her aunt's reaction, but the aunt couldn't have been more gracious.

Really?!? FIVE unexpected guests?!? And she seemed HAPPY about it?!?
Who does that?!?

Mexicans do, too, but in a more limited sense (in my experience). The month after Clara was born, we played host not only to Mario's parents and younger sister, but his elderly aunt, older sister, two nieces, and cousin. All but the cousin arrived in one Pontiac Firebird. Yes, that is a 10-hour drive. I let them figure out where they'd all sleep, and it all worked out quite well.

I've been in on the receiving end as well, when we descended in on Mario's aunt in Veracruz one year for New Year's, along with his parents and sister. Already living in the house were his aunt, uncle, 3 cousins, 100-year-old grandfather, aunt, and a very old parrot. Again, it all worked out, and I remember being surprised how well I did sleep, packed in like sardines as we were.

Family is always welcome at any time, in any amount, and for however long (in most situations).

Currently, Mario's cousin is living with us, and has been for a few months and will be staying rather indefinetly. One of my gringo friends wondered how we do it, do we feel like the house is ours, our space comprised? Not at all. I enjoy having another adult to talk with, glad that Clara's finally getting a steady source of Spanish, and she works so much that she's hardly ever here. Furthermore, she often cooks and does dishes when she actually is around, so I'll never complain!

Slowly but surely, Clara's getting more and more attached to her Tia Patty. They often hole themselves up together while Patty puts on her makeup for work, liberally dousing Clara in lotion, which she loves. Within the last two weeks, she's been practicing saying "Tia Patty", which comes out either "Tia" or "Patty", but rarely together.

But yesterday, Patty sealed the deal on Clara's affections. When Clara woke up, Patty told her she had bought her a present. They went to Patty's room, and Clara came back triumphantly clutching a plastic bag with something inside. At that point, it probably didn't matter what was inside--Clara's a big fan of toting bags around. Eventually, she did get curious enough to look and see what the real present was, and it was a new water bottle (with pink princesses) and a PERMANENTLY ATTACHED STRAW!

When you're two, it doesn't get much cooler than a new cup with a straw.

Usually, during the day when it's just me and Clara in the house, she's often preoccupied with asking where Mario is. "Papa? Papa?" Yesterday, after Patty went to work, she changed her tune. It was all, "Patty? Patty? Tia?"

Ooo--we're getting lowered on the cool scale. And I couldn't be happier. I'm glad she's branching out with her affections.

Just Have to Add . . .

So Saturday, when it warmed up to make the thought of going outside tolerable (why, I'm not sure, because the temperature difference between the inside and outside in a house without any heat is negligible), we headed out to the grocery store and Home Depot to fix a few of the pipes that froze last week.

Now, on your average Saturday evening, the mall that Home Depot belongs to is often crowded, thanks to the movie theater nearby. So when we saw the parking lot completely full on Saturday morning, we thought, "Hmmm . . . people finally decided that it was nice enough to venture outside, so they decided to go to the movie theater?!" I thought I was so smart and clever.

But, of course, the joke was on me.

As soon as we stepped in the plumbing aisle at Home Depot, what did we find?

The entire population of Saltillo's south side.

The overwhelmed store clerks, kept repeating to customers, "nope, we're out of that part . . . out of that one, too." An army carrying copper pipes and PVC, as they would spears, backed up the checkout lanes (which was the first time we've ever seen all the lanes open).

And I thought they were all at the movie theater. Shows you what I know.

Snowpocalypse 2011

OK, I've got to jump on this bandwagon, too.

On Tuesday night, I was giddy with delight and wishing with all my might that I might be in Indiana, joining in on preparations for the BLIZZARD OF THE CENTURY (or something like that). While talking to my parents, I thought of my friend, who is a CPA and smack in the middle of tax season. Afraid that her boss declared that his entire staff of 5 would be camped out in the office for the duration of Snowpocalypse 2011, so I called her at home, just to see if she there, or shivering in the basement of her office, subsisting on cheese crackers and M&Ms.

Much to my relief, she was home, and fairly confident that she'd get the following day off. In February--her busiest month! See, crazy snow isn't all bad.

And as I just love ridiculous amounts of snow, I just really, really wanted to be there. However, as the Dallas airport was closed on Tuesday, thanks to the aforementioned snow, I figured I was out of luck (for a number of other reasons as well).

Mother Nature must have heard my longing for snow and nasty weather, and "blessed" us with what she wasn't currently dumping on the rest of North America. Wednesday morning, my house was nice and toasty, so I didn't think much about heading out of the house, dressed in two shirts and a sweater. As soon as I stepped out the door--DEAR HEAVENS IT WAS COLD!!!!

We spent most of the day, curled up in Patty's room (which she's currently sharing with my mother-in-law), as it's the only room that doesn't have windows to the outside. I bundled up my surviving plants as well as possible as the cold crept its clammy fingers through the cinderblocks that compose my house, and we adjusted ourselves to having Cold as this weekend's houseguest.

Mario took the day off today. Like any other day that he has off, he had to pay his respects to the bank. As the car is in the shop, we bundled up and just walked the 10 blocks downtown--Clara included. I dreaded the dirty looks and comments from passerby about "that poor baby out in the cold!" Fortunately, Mario was carrying her, so put him in charge of fielding any and all comments, as I would no doubt be invariably rude. (The whole Mexican habit of random strangers butting in to tell me how to raise my child just make me want to blow my top.) Mario is generally much more polite than I am.

Of course, the only lady who did say anything was a woman waltzing around with her forearms uncovered. I thought it rather ironic that she could feel for my "poor baby"--well bundled in multiple layers of clothes, hat, mittens, and down-lined jacket--while she herself was most inappropriately dressed for the freezing temperatures (-2 Celsius when we left the house).

Furthermore, we woke up that morning without water, as the pipes had frozen during the night. Throughout our walk downtown, what was the constant background noise? Water gushing off of rooftops, and car tires driving through the considerable amount of water on the road, thanks to hundreds of water pipes bursting during the night. So far, ours are intact. Here's hoping they stay that way (despite the fact that Mario only insulated the joints of the exposed piping . . . had a feeling that was a bad idea. But did I do anything about it? Nope. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed).

The good heater is currently running in Clara's room, and we're all going to be curled up in Patty's room for the rest of the evening with a lesser heater while we watch Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban--which is likely what I'd be doing were I in Indiana this week, after all.

In the end, I am getting my fair share of the wonderful winter weather that I was so sure I'd miss out on.

But, hoo Nelly--do I miss central heating!