Christmas Dinner at Connie and Manny’s

At 2:30 today Ruth and Jimmy picked Eric and I up to go for dinner.  We need time to have happy hour before dinner at 5:30.  If we eat too early we’ll all be in bed by 6pm!

Here is our old friend and favorite dog….Ramona. When Connie and Manny were in the park Ramona used to sneak over to our rig for cheese.  She is quite the cartoon character.  Even though we hardly ever see her now she never forgets us.

Connie and Manny rent the upstairs apartment in their friend Bev’s house.  Nice big kitchen.

Eric’s favorite part….the big open deck with a view.  There is Ramona sitting by him while he chats with Manny.  That’s their other dog Mitzi….she is a tiny chihuahua and has bones like a bird.

Anita, Ruth and Connie with Bev in back.  Connie had all sorts of appetizers prepared to snack on.  I think we are eating stuffed jalepenos at this point. 

Just so we wouldn’t be bored Connie had a couple of games prepared.  This one involved answering questions about your spouse and yourself and when we were finished Connie read out our answers.  Eric even knew a few things about me and….I didn’t know everything about him!

Teeny, tiny Mitzi.

Connie’s checking the bird while the rest of us stand by.

Anita, Ruth and I all brought food with us so there was a nice choice for dinner. 

No one is going to go hungry tonight…..and there’s pie too!

Dinner’s over and time for another game  This one was a hoot. 

Put your plate on your head, now draw a floor line, now draw a Christmas tree, now draw a fireplace with a mantle, now put a stocking on the mantle, now put a present under the tree and then put an ornament on the tree…..yeah right!  

We were all laughing at this point and Connie is so talented she balanced the plate on her head while she took a picture. 

Ruth did the best.  How the heck did she manage to draw that tree and put the present under it?

The winner!    Eric’s two stockings on the mantle looked like boobs!  My present was under the line and the fireplace was in the middle of my tiny tree!

Anita brought us each a gift bag with some goodies and Connie gave us each a little package of toffees….how nice was that.   By 7:30ish we were finished dinner and it was decided we’d get into two cars (men in one) and (ladies in the other) and take a tour around El Cid looking at Christmas lights. 

There must be professional companies who do these displays.

Some are a little blurry but it was night and we were moving.  Look at this extravaganza!

Who the heck lives in a house this big?

Huge houses, new vehicles and they would need an army of maids to keep everything clean.

Children must live here.

This is behind a window and it is an intricately done Santa’s workshop.  Amazing!

Some displays were very tasteful….like this one.

The opulence of some of these houses was just decadent and makes you realize how many “haves” there are in Mexico and how many “have nots.”

Wow!

We toured for about an hour and then it was time to head home.  When we arrived back at the park the palapa up front looked like there had never even been a Christmas dinner.   I bet they all had a good time…..I know we did. 

Thanks a bunch Connie and Manny.  Good food, lots of fun and great friends, what more can you ask for.  A really good Christmas day.