Sunday 14th October 2018...‘Tis the season!!!!!!!

As the Christmas season is approaching, I have taken on the joyful task again of organizing the Three Kings toy drive as I did last year!!

As you may know, Three Kings day in January is more important to the Mexican people than Christmas, and this is the time they exchange small gifts; but, sadly, many children in the outlying areas receive nothing!

As a result of this community’s generosity, last year we were able to give a small gift to more than 400 girls and boys in the campo of San Miguel de Allende!!

This year year I am setting the bar high and want to get gifts to 500 children.  This will require a great deal of generosity (some financial, some volunteer) by many people!!

We have found over the years that  boys from kindergarten to middle school all want a ⚽️ soccer ball!!

I am happy to say that I have found a supplier in a nearby village where the balls are made, and he is willing to sell the balls to me at a really great price!!

For the older girls, last year we found a supplier at the Tuesday market who would make up lovely small purses 👛 for the girls, inside if which were an assortment of nice things such as notebooks, pencils, hair products, nail products, and gloves. The cost of one of these purses is very reasonable, too!!!

For the kindergarten girls, last year we made up a bag of many colourful toys 🛍but, a suggestion has come in that they would each love a nice stuffed animal 🦓🐘so that has yet to be decided.

The soccer balls do not need to be wrapped nor do the purses for the girls...so the work of wrapping may just come down to the stuffed toys, if we go that route.

So, this year, instead of asking everyone to buy a toy and wrap it, I am asking for cash donations as this is the best way to maximize our efforts to reach the goal of  500 children!!!!

This is not a charitable organization so no tax receipts will be issued, but I will keep a copy of everyone who donates (and the amounts) and send each a thank you and photos of the gift giving!!

If you do not live in San Miguel  please e mail me and I will give instructions how to get your donation to me!!

Thank you for your kind consideration! I’m hoping to hear from you soon so that you may be part of making this holiday season very special for some children who might otherwise  receive nothing!

Please when you contact me use a separate e mail and not reply to this generic e mail...many thanks......best wishes les!!

My e mail account is.      mexicokid77@yahoo.com

Santa Claus may have gone back to the North Pole to rest, but it doesn’t mean the gift-giving (and receiving) is over -- at least not for the thousands of children in Latin America and Spain anxiously awaiting“El Día de los Reyes” Celebration on Jan. 6th.

For many Christians, the holiday season doesn’t officially end until the 12th day of Christmas known as the “Feast of the Epiphany” or “Three Kings' Day”.

The holiday marks the biblical adoration of baby Jesus by the three Kings, also referred to as three Wise Men or Magi. According to the Gospel of Matthew, the men found the divine child by following a star across the desert for twelve days to Bethlehem. Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar -- representing Europe, Arabia, and Africa respectively -- travelled by horse, camel, and elephant in order to present baby Jesus with three symbolic gifts.

The gold offered by one of the wise men is a symbolic acknowledgment of Jesus’ royal standing as “King of the Jews,” while the frankincense manifests the divine nature of the baby’s existence, since he is not an earthly king but the Son of God. And finally the myrrh, often used to embalm corpses, was gifted to the newborn as a symbol of Jesus’ mortality -- foreshadowing his death as a means to cleanse humanity of its sins.

Reyes festivities come in different shapes and sizes across the globe from community parades to three-day celebrations at Disneyland. In Mexico, thousands gather every year to taste a mile-long “Rosca de Reyes” (Kings’ Bread) while others simply make the holiday staple at home honoring the tradition to hide a baby jesus figurine within the bread -- the person whose slice has the figurine must prepare tamales for everyone on the Day of the Candles on Feb. 2!

Yashi Kochi!!!