How was everyone’s Christmas holiday? I hope you all had a wonderful day.
I haven’t a recipe to share with you today, only some snapshots of our first holiday in Playa del Carmen. The photos were all shot during our Christmas Eve walk and our lazy Christmas Day. Enjoy and I hope they bring you a bit of warmth during the wintery December days.
My husband and I have a tradition of every year picking out a new Christmas ornament for each other; along the way we’ve also included our precious fur and feather babies. This year was no different and so we stepped out to choose this year’s ornaments.
I had been eyeing this beautiful store full of colourful Mexican themed ornaments and souvenirs along one of the main shopping streets. They had everything from the traditional sphere shaped ornaments to little nativity scenes made out of clay and set inside cactuses — very Mexican and perfect to mark our first Christmas here.
There were so many beautiful pieces and it was difficult to choose just one. I loved how brightly colourful everything was. Aren’t these clay piñatas gorgeous?
I got distracted from the ornaments by these pretty bags. They are hand made and considering that the shop is in the main shopping street, the prices aren’t too bad.
In the end we choose this Mexican Santa…
and this gorgeous sphere that is hand-painted with traditional Mexican folk art. They are perfect!
After our shopping we headed for a stroll into another neighbourhood. These aren’t pink Christmas decorations but they certainly are beautiful. The pink rose art hanging from the trees matched perfectly the tropical plants.
Something I can’t stop shooting photos of are the trees here, they are tall, wide and have wild roots and branches. They remind me of bodhi trees, wouldn’t you agree? I love them!
So how do you guys like my new pink motorcycle? Haha, just kidding. I don’t want a motorcycle but if I did, pink would totally be the colour I choose.
Pink really seemed to be the popular colour this day. I love these bikes and that they were parked right at the beginning of the beach.
All that walking under the blazing heat makes you thirsty. We stopped for a drink and a snack…
We couldn’t have chosen a better time to stop because a couple of minutes later it began to pour. It wasn’t a snowy Christmas Eve but it was a rainy one.
Christmas Day morning we woke up to gorgeous, clear blue skies and high temperatures. I couldn’t contain the excitement of waking up on December 25th to this kind of weather. It has been a dream of mine to go lay on the beach on Christmas day and this year it is exactly what we did.
I think many other people had the same dream because the beach club and the coastline was full of people enjoying the beautiful weather. In the afternoon, we calmed our growling stomach with shrimp tacos and quenched our thirst with a bucket of ice-cold Mexican beer.
Later on we went out for our Christmas dinner. Of course only grilled lobster tail could be the perfect tropical Christmas dinner. I was too busy eating the most perfect meal to stop and take a photo. We also got to try our first Mexican wine and let me just say that it was one of the very best whites I’ve ever drank! The whole meal was stellar.
After dinner we strolled down to the main square were we ran into a show put on by a Mayan dancer group. If you visit Playa make sure you don’t miss it.
This year might not have been our “traditional” Christmas, but it certainly was a very merry one. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have a wonderful weekend and an awesome New Years celebration!
**P.S
THIS MONTH WE WILL BE SKIPPING THE YBR AGAIN. I APOLOGISE AND PROMISE WE WILL KICK OFF 2014 WITH ANOTHER YUMMY YBR ROUNDUP.**
Oh what vibrant happy colors!
And sand toes:)
Love this post..we are pretty monochromatic these days unless the sun shines:)
Love the bags..!
..Pics are so clear and sharp..
Thank you..Best wishes!
Love the ice cold mexican beer too:)
Winter can be so beautiful, but I always missed the sunshine during those months. I hope you get more sunshine and colours these coming days. Thank you Monique and best wishes to you as well.:) xx
Thank you for taking us along on thiis oh so colourful and happiness-making walk! What a change from Prague ~ but methinks you will be very content in the coming year :) !
My pleasure Eha! It is very different than Prague here, but both places are gorgeous in their own ways. Happy New Year!:)
Terrific post, Nancy. It is such fun seeing Playa through your eyes. For me it is so familiar–I can just imagine how happy you are to be home. This is such a wonderful culture and it feeds me daily.
Gracia Victoria! It’s been amazing coming back and experiencing all of this. Feliz año nuevo amiga! xx
Great post and I like Mexican Santa :)
Thank you Marta, he is cute isn’t he?:)
Oh, Nancy! Fantastic pics. My faves are the purses, foliage and Mexican folk art ornament, although Sombrero Santa ain’t half bad. lol Missing your recipes, but looking forward to a Playa del Carmen-flavored New Year of posts. :-)
Hi Belinda! I might go back for that bag soon, hehe. I’m lining up many recipes to be published soon. Thank you and have a fanatic send off to 2013!!:)
Merry Christmas Nancy!
Such gorgeous shots, especially the one of your feet, it made me feel instantly relaxed.
Have a lovely holiday.
Merry Christmas Julie! Thank you and I hope you have a great 2014.xx
Christmas in paradise! I adore all those handcrafted Mexican Christmas ornaments. So beautiful!! Wishing you have a wonderful and happy New Year 2014!!
Wishing you a wonderful and happy New Year 2014!! I swear I was not drinking so early in the morning when I typo above. LOL!
Lol, no worries! I can never spell in the morning. Hugs!
They are pretty and so colourful and hard to resist. Thank you Ramona, all my best for a fantastic 2014!
As much as I love my traditional Midwest Christmas, I could totally get used to this one. Happy New Year Nancy!
Definitely, I think you should spend at least one holiday in the sunshine. Happy New Year to you too Sandra!! xx
Happy New Year! Next year I’m going to spend my Christmas while laying on the beach. It’s going to be a self imposed break from the craziness that the holidays has turned into. So glad you are enjoying your new home, although I think it would be impossible not too, lol.
-Gina-
Happy New Year Gina! I hope you do because you really deserve a Christmas beach break.
Now that was the perfect Christmas and I couldn’t have found a better way to spend it in a new place. Thanks for sharing what a fabulous place and just LOVE the colors!
Thank you MJ! xx