Merry Christmas! Twinkling Lights in Santa Fe and Las Posadas!

Basilica of Saint Francis, Santa Fe

Merry Christmas!!! 

Hope you enjoy the lights from Santa Fe!

(two weeks ago!)

Lights in the main Plaza in Santa Fe, the night we arrived! ... before the snow!

My Mom and me all bundled!

There were Christmas decorations everywhere, and the farolitas on the tops of the buildings (very Santa Fe) were one of the reasons I wanted to go during the holidays! So pretty.  The traditional way of doing the farolitas, is to put sand in a paper bag with a candle, and though I saw a lot of examples of this, many buildings had electric versions. I mean, can you imagine lighting all those candles? But they had them right on the street! Here is a perfect example of the farolitas or Luminaria, below on the Inn and Spa at Loretto ...

We were driving by the Loretto and I hopped out to take this photo above and of their tree outside ...

The following 3 photos are of the little place we stayed The Inn of the Governors, which was only a few blocks from the main Plaza.

In my previous post I said we'd planned to go back to the swanky Inn of the Anasazi for a cocktail ...

Mission accomplished! REALLY good margaritas, but I had my tequila neat. ;)

Kind of hard to see the lobby but it was definitely casual elegance, Santa Fe style. It was just redone, and that's my mom standing there. Sorry it's so dark!

That was Saturday evening and all of the sudden we realized, we needed to get over to the Plaza, for Las Posadas!

I had thought it couldn't get any prettier but the snow made the Plaza even more magical!

Crowds were gathered for the annual Las Posadas, where everyone follows Mary and Joseph around the square, as they look for a Inn. There is singing and candles carried ...

In the above photo, that's Mary and Joseph on the left ...

As they make their way around the square, followed by guitars and singing, these devils show up, in second floor windows, balcony's and roofs, refusing them entry (I'm guessing because it was in Spanish.) and the crowd boo and wave their arms at the devils ...

Mom and Penny watching the devils (which were pretty funny actually!)

This funny devil comedian looked to be waring a Gryffindor scarf!?

Finally, Mary and Joseph make it to the Palace of the Governors (1610), an adobe structure which is the oldest continuously occupied public building in the United States!

And this time they were let in! And there was hot cider and cookies (for everyone!) and Christmas Carols in this big snowy courtyard. That's Mary, in the photo below, in the turquoise ... and do you see the little crescent moon above the building?

And there were all these little bonfires right on the ground! I think there were guards keeping a look out that no one fell into them.  Hard to tell, but that's my sister and Mom, below.

I had my sister take a picture of me with one of the funny "devils." (Which I refer to now as the "Gryffindor Devil.")

I don't know who this girl was but I appreciated her holiday spirit!

Here we are! It was a perfect weekend to be in Santa Fe!

This years Christmas Card ... the silliness continues!

That's my parrot, Beatrice, on my finger. 

May the magic of the season

inspire you 

and touch your heart,

opening it to even greater love.

Blessings and light!

&

Buon Natale!!!