I am posting this from Mexico
– and quickly since power was just restored from a local blackout!
…so this is brief – and lacks photos
…but stay tuned for another post with pictures in the near future.

I have been known to hum the 12 days of Christmas song (…along with the tune highlighted in my last post) throughout the month of December. One of my favourite things of Christmases past was walking through Butchart Gardens‘ 12 Days of Christmas with my mom. Each year we would enjoy wandering the paths in search of festive displays – like the 3 telephone calling birds and the 5 floating rings in the calm pond. I also recall reading the history of the 12 Days to my students. And I loved each student’s personalized 12 Days they created (by completing the 12 sentence starters and adding illustrative drawings).

December and January often offer up opportunities for reflection – thoughts swirl about the past 12 months while we anticipate the next 12.

If you were to rewrite the song –
what 12 gifts would you include?
What 12 things/people of 2012 are you most thankful for?

Last January (in my post about ‘Gifts’) I mentioned one gift of 2012 that I am still thankful for – a sunny vacation! This new year includes our 2nd annual sunny gift from Ritchie Bros. – and this time we chose to extend our stay 🙂

For us, 2012 started and ended in Mexico. We toured the Mayan Ruins of Tulum last January, and now this January we will be visiting the Chichen Itza ruins (…I have always loved field trips)! In Tulum last year, our tour guide explained the misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar (re: December 21, 2012) …and stated that it was okay to book another visit to Cancun! We are looking forward to learning more about the Mayan culture on our upcoming tour!

We just celebrated our first New Year’s Eve in Mexico! I was delighted when I saw a bag of 12 grapes waiting for me as I took my seat among tourists for an evening of food and fun. I remembered learning about the 12-grape New Year’s tradition from a fellow grad student at UVic – thanks, A. R. 🙂 While teaching our small group a few things about her home in Spain, she invited us to each eat 12 grapes in 12 seconds, while making 12 wishes, to the 12 bell strikes of a clock tower (…it was a bit challenging – especially when laughing at the sight of others gobbling down grapes!) I felt ready to partake in the tradition during a real New Year’s celebration…but this time I found it challenging due to the champagne glass in my hand 🙂

Instead of making just one new year’s resolution,
I started this new year with 12 wishes.

Here’s one wish:
I wish each of you a happy and healthy new year
full of love, laughs, and creative productivity!