The entries for the next couple of months may be a little sparse. There’s not nearly as much life to write about when Ana is not with me. We are making progress though. Ana was able to pick up the marriage license copies and they are on their way here. I’ve been reading through the immigration forms and instructions again and it appears that she won’t have to surrender her tourist visa while applying for permanent residency. That’s would be great! I still have to confirm that though. I will plan for at least one trip to Mexico before the wedding but perhaps she can come up here once also before August.
We have our wedding date confirmation now. It will be August 30 at the hacienda. 13 weeks from today. We were hoping to have 12 weeks before the wedding to complete the residency application. We only expect it to take six to eight weeks but wanted a buffer. By the time the certificates arrive we will be down to 12 weeks. Everything has been completed… Oh, just a minute please…
Sorry about that. I had to put clothes in the dryer. I learned something interesting several months ago. I get to do the laundry! Ana informed me early on that she had never done laundry in her life and didn’t know how to use the machine. It’s true. I confirmed it with her mother. I’ve offered to teach her but I haven’t been able to drum up much interest yet. It’s not a problem though. When I think about how much life she adds to the home and how much we enjoy our time together; a little laundry (little?) is no big deal.
Where was I… Every application, up ’til now has been completed ahead of schedule. Even with setbacks. If I had been able to pay the copy fees at the bank and submit our copy request back at the civil office (see the May 15th entry) on the day of our wedding, we could have had them in time to bring them with us to Indiana and could have started the application two weeks earlier. Anyway, we should be in good shape to return after the religious wedding with the “green card” or Ana’s tourist visa or we’ll extend the honeymoon in Mexico a little.
History
We had been planning for months on spending Christmas together. I flew down a couple days before Christmas to get acclimated (no snow), finish shopping and prepare for some new traditions. We arrived at Esther and Humberto’s (Tete y Beto) house on the west side of the city early Christmas Eve. Tete had already started cooking and we helped, a little, off and on, for the rest of the day. There was a turkey and a shredded fish dish with a little of everything in it. No cranberry relish though. I think I need to bring that next time. My contribution this time was celery with peanut butter. Tete was starting to cook a soup and asked me if I liked celery. 
I answered “yes, especially with peanut butter.” The room was silent and everyone looked at me like I was a little more alien than just gringo. They were horrified at the thought of the combination. I had to find some peanut butter and show them how to do it. Tete tried it and liked it. After several minutes of coaxing Ana tried it. She was more horrified after tasting it than she was earlier just thinking about it. Most of the others wouldn’t even come near it. The best reaction was Ana’s father’s the next day. We were all sitting around the table and the topic came up again. We brought some in for the rest of the family to try. Ana’s father took one bite. 
I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw the look of shock and panic on his face. He couldn’t find a place fast enough to spit it out. Therefore, I think next time I need to bring cranberry salad.The family Christmas starts with cooking (no cookies, candies or fudge though) for a day or two. At midnight on Christmas Eve, everyone gathers for the Christmas dinner. After eating and talking for a while, when the children can’t wait any longer, the gifts are opened.
Around 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning, after playing games, talking and eating some more, everyone starts going to bed. Sometime Christmas day everyone starts to get up to play and eat again. Someone bought and American football so after a late breakfast, a few of us went outside to play. The elevation and thin air were working against me but I held in there. Next time we’ll have to play soccer (futbol). We left late that afternoon to return home and spent the rest of the trip recovering and relaxing.
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