A New Mexico Christmas
Christmas is a beautiful time of year in New Mexico. The weather is gorgeous — no jackets required, a huge improvement over the below-zero weather we’ve been enduring in Minnesota.
The plaza at Old Mesilla in southern New Mexico is not too far from my parents’ house. Mesilla goes all out with luminarias lining the whole plaza and the main streets. (We call these little candle-lit paper bags “luminarias” in southern New Mexico — up north, they’re called “farolitos.”) They’re put out each Christmas Eve and lit by volunteers. Taking an evening drive around to check out the plaza and the Christmas lights is pretty much a required activity.
It’s a huge understatement to say that my parents go all out with Christmas decorations and food. With all their cooking and decorating this year, it was way too beautiful not to share, so hope you enjoy this little slideshow of sorts. Ristras made of red chile are also a fun Christmas decoration. We put lights in ours.
One of my family’s favorite party foods is rolls to make little turkey and roast beef sandwiches as finger food. I love seeing the rolls rise as we’re getting things ready. My mom has started arranging flowers as a little side business and I think she does a great job. Looks professional to me!
Maybe someday I will post my dad’s chile con queso recipe, but for now it will remain in the super-double-secret category. It’s addictive and so incredibly good on a turkey sandwich. My great-grandfather liked that combination so much that Chef Louis Papa named a menu item for him at the Hotel Paso del Norte (now the Westin) in El Paso. “Mr. Harvey’s Special Sandwich” was a piece of toast with turkey breast and chile con queso on top open-face style. We are keeping that tradition very much alive!
It was my “job” this year to ice the sugar cookies. Not much of a job since my mom had already done all the hard work of making the cookies and icing. We used white icing in an icing bag with little metallic non-pareil decorations and kept them pretty simple.
My mom also likes decorate gingerbread men (and houses as you’ll soon see) to hang on the tree and give as gifts. It’s fun to wrap them in clear cellophane with bright ribbons so you can see the gingerbread cookie.
Our stove has a huge copper vent hood over it and it’s always a good place to hang decorations, like these copper cookie cutters.
Red cyclamen make great Christmas decorations and gifts!
This cotton Christmas tree gets the most creative Christmas decoration award this year. My mom made it from locally grown cotton put into a pair of boots and decorated it with strings of cranberries. Notice that the little cotton burr on the top of the tree even looks like a star. My mom set this up and painted an oil painting of it which she used as this year’s Christmas card — gorgeous! I hope to do a post with some of the paintings she has for sale.
Every nook and cranny of the house is decorated with greenery and pomegranates and elk antlers and other outdoorsy stuff. I love this handmade pecan bowl, made by a family friend, filled with pomegranates grown by one of our neighbors!
The main tree is here in the great room and on the mantle you see more greenery with “Herd-a-Hereford” lights. The elk came from the ranch as did Wilbur the mountain lion who joined us many years ago. He’s great at starting conversations.
You can’t have Christmas without poinsettias. I love this old Burpee’s box on the hearth.
Here’s the dining room all decked out with goodies and more greenery, pomegranates, poinsettias and lights! My mom arranged the flowers on the table and I think they look fantastic.
Mmm, veggie tray — another one of my “jobs.”
This is what you call a mountain of chocolate cake. I hope to put up links to all these recipes at some point but it would take too long to do it today!
We cut this huge piece of mistletoe out of one of the cottonwood trees in the front yard. We asked ourselves why we’d give such a horrible parasitic plant a place of honor in our home, but went with the Christmas tradition anyway.
This is my mom’s annual gingerbread house. Magnificent! She makes one just about every year, designing the plans like an architect. She’s made big ones, small ones, churches and even replicas of people’s houses. It’s always fun to see what she comes up with.
This angel-shaped window is pretty cool.
We call this the “gingerbread tree.” Every year my mom makes cookies with each family member’s name on them, and also dries orange slices to hang on the tree. They look beautiful with sunlight shining through them. It’s a very warm, natural looking tree with the lights that look like gas lights and raffia bows.
When my dad says high octane, he means high octane! A drink of his eggnog will knock you off your feet!
Spot, the 120-pound German Shepherd/Australian Shepherd mix (or “Super Shepherds” as we now call them since all the puppies in the litter turned out to be ridiculously huge), loves his new bed. Above him is a deer head from the ranch circa 1920. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
Tagged with Australian Shepherd, burpee's, chile con queso, Christmas, Christmas decorations, christmas lights, Christmas tree, copper cookie cutters, cotton, cyclamen, deer head, dog bed, dog house, dried orange slices, el paso, elk, farolitos, flower arranging, German Shepherd, herefords, hotel paso del norte, luminarias, mesilla, mistletoe, mountain lion, new mexico, poinsettia, pomegranates, raffia bows, ristra, roast beef, rolls, spiked egg nog, sugar cookies, turkey
Welcome back to New Mexico!
Now I know why you are so creative, your mom passed it down to you. Wow! She is amazing, gingerbread houses, decorations, lots of cookie baking!
Hope you & your family had a wonderful Christmas!
Cool Ginger Bread house!
Is that your Dad’s Elk? My Dad would be so jealous, ever since I moved out here, he’s been hinting around about going elk hunting.
Enjoy the rest of your Holidays, and have a safe trip back.
Happy New Year!
Wow Elizabeth! Thanks for recording our Christmas in such an amazing manner! You are a great photographer, especially on the sugar cookies, making them look like thousands. They came to shake our pecan trees yesterday, feels like an earthquake. We tasted the nuts and they are delicious. Now… to see if we can go into selling our special pecan pies, made with that secret ingredient, the variety of nut itself. I might send you a frozen one to see if it holds up and still tastes good. Call me for the latest news at the party last night. Love, Mom
Yes, that’s my dad’s elk. Hope you and your dad can make it out elk hunting, bet he would love that! Happy New Year to you all, too.
Thanks, Betty! I can’t take credit for much creativity, but my mom is incredible! She makes some really cool stuff. Hope you all had a great holiday season!
How lovely! The lineup of cookies on the counter was truly impressive and your mom has mad gingerbread house skills! I’m so glad I happened by and got to share a bit of your beautiful holiday.
Thanks, Maura! Glad you stopped by and enjoyed the pictures. Happy new year!
I love the photos. It makes me really miss that house…and your family too, of course. You and your mom are so amazingly talented. Thanks for sharing your holiday with us!!
Thanks, Liz! It would be fun if we could ever go back and hang out together in NM! I miss those fun days with your family in LC, too.
I love the pictures of your parents house. Especially the Spot dog, he’s the cutest.
Thanks, Meribeth! Spot is the cutest. It’s hard to tell how huge he is from the picture, though.