Christmas is an exciting and happy time at Temple Square in Mexico City. The square is decorated with over 300,000 lights, red and white Poinsettias planted all over, and a life sized nativity scene. It makes for a very festive atmosphere. Leslie and I enjoyed warm evening walks to see the lights and people walking around.
During the season we have numerous choirs in the center to sing Christmas music. The decorations and music draws large crowds to the Visitors Center. The photo below gives you a little idea of the number of visitors. In a typical month we have 6-8,000 visitors. This December we had over 16,000 visitors. It was difficult yet exciting to serve such numbers. One Saturday we had over 3,600 people come with over 80 tourist buses. The parking lot was full and the buses had to park along the street (see photo below).
The Mexican people love a good party and we had several of them. To the right, is a Christmas party for a local congregation we attended during the fall. The main course was a local dish with shrimp, shellfish, chicken, pork, and beef over a flavored rice. It was wonderful. We all had a great time eating and talking.
On Christmas day Leslie and I treated the Sister Missionaries to a pinata filled with candy. We had a great time watching these young women take their whacks at the pinata. After that, we all had a turkey Christmas dinner and played several large group games.
We had a wonderful Christmas season. Our work, friends, and festivities keep us from getting too homesick, but it is hard not to miss all our family and friends at home. We hope each of you had a Merry Christmas and that you will have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year.
That's a nice picture of you two. It looks like you guys are having fun!
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