Luminarias

It's been a while since I traveled in December. It's honestly a tough time to get away. I mean with holiday parties (well, pre-COVID anyway...) and presents to buy and not to mention multiple holiday days off in late November and then again about month later. We took a couple of quick out of town December trips way back in 2013 (Iceland) and then again in 2014 (Key West / Everglades) but since then, absolutely nothing. Until this year, that is, when we got away for a week to New Mexico. And I do love me some New Mexico.

Despite the seven years of no travel at this time of year, getting away in December is actually one of my favorite times of the year to explore somewhere new. And it's that way for one reason and one reason alone: to see how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the country or the world. In Iceland, we discovered that country's love / hate relationship with the Yule Lads. This year, we found some awesome holiday traditions in New Mexico.

Now, full disclosure (and limiting my complaining about COVID to one small paragraph) here, we were supposed to be in Vienna, Austria this month browsing the many, many Christmas markets in that city while drinking gluhwein and eating whatever good stuff they serve at the markets over there. But COVID shut down the entire country (OK, so actually the Austrian government did that because of COVID) and cancelled that trip, leaving Vienna in December on a scrap heap with Costa Rica, the United Kingdom and gorilla watching in central Africa from 2020. Maybe next year for Vienna. And Costa Rica. And maybe the United Kingdom. We'll see...

Chile ristras at the Albuquerque Holiday Market.

Biscochitos at Golden Crown Panaderia, Albuquerque.

I have a few things to say about Christmas in New Mexico.

First, the Albuquerque Holiday Market at the Rail Yards is awesome. It's held one weekend per year and that happened to be the weekend we landed in ABQ. I am sure that the markets in Vienna would have been larger, more numerous and filled with way more stuff to buy and eat than the one at the Rail Yards but it doesn't really matter. We stuffed our faces with good food; browsed more Zia-adorned items than we really could have imagined; got a look at our first chile ristras of the trip (there would be many, many more) including some wreaths (so cool...); and walked away with some amazing buys, including an awesome red, metal-and-stone roadrunner sculpture that cost us three times as much to ship as it did to buy and it's going to be so worth it when it arrives in front of our house after Christmas. 

And when I say metal and stone, I really mean the stone is a large pebble that weighs about five pounds. It's so awesome. Trust me.

Second, they have these cookies call biscochitos that are legendary and actually live up to their legendary status. Biscochitos are shortbread-like cookies of Spanish colonial origin that are traditionally baked for celebrations like weddings and important other family gatherings. But particularly for family gatherings at Christmas. The classic biscochito is flavored with anise because anise was rare in colonial Spanish territories and thus saved for special occasions. I hate anise. I really don't understand why anyone would voluntarily eat or drink anything flavored with this stuff. Fortunately for me in 21st century New Mexico, bakeries make biscochitos in other flavors. We headed to local bakery Golden Crown Panaderia for an afternoon snack featuring all four varieties of their biscochitos (blue corn, cappuccino, chocolate and, yes, traditional). 

These things are so soft while also being crisp. It is difficult to describe how texturally amazing these cookies are but it's like they are made of packed sand and they just disintegrate into the most delicious, slightly sweet crumbles when you bite down and and press them between your tongue and the roof of your mouth. The flavoring at Golden Crown is so subtle that the texture and the hint of sugar dominates in the best sort of way. Even the anise almost melts away entirely to something actually pleasing. The cappuccino and chocolate were the best in my opinion.

Christmas lights in the Santa Fe Plaza...

and in some random (but definitely not atypical) Albuquerque neighborhood.

Third, New Mexico loves Christmas lights. But Albuquerque might just take that love to an entirely new level.

Now, I realize there are some people out there who are pretty fanatical about decorating their houses for Christmas. But we took a nighttime holiday lights tour with the ABQ Trolley Company that has me convinced that no city anywhere does Christmas decoration like the Duke City. I'm talking houses decked out with light displays of every variety imaginable. I'm talking large projected images onto the sides of houses. I'm talking entire neighborhoods seemingly in competition between houses to see who has bragging rights (there were lots of neighborhoods like this). I'm talking light displays synchronized to music. I'm talking houses with short wave radio broadcasts playing Christmas songs when you tune to their frequency of choice. I took a number of photos from the inside our of 90 minute or so trek around town and have included one above. But honestly, no photo could do this tour justice.

But that's not even the craziest part. Apparently it's an Albuquerque thing to cover your car in lights and then drive around town looking at other people's Christmas light displays. You read that right: DRIVE AROUND TOWN!!! I'm not kidding, we saw a car coated with Christmas lights just rolling around whatever Albuquerque neighborhood we happened to be in. I swear I have never seen anything like that. Maybe I'm sheltered.

One more (admittedly slightly blurry) picture from our trolley tour. Luminarias straight ahead.

But none of that was the best part about pre-Christmas in New Mexico. The best part was the luminarias.

Visit New Mexico between Thanksgiving and Christmas and you are bound to see what look like illuminated brown paper bags on the roofs and in the windows and lining the walkways and filling the gardens of all sorts of adobe and non-adobe stores and houses and hotels and any other sort of building that humans live or work in. And not just one per store or house or other sort of building. I mean like 10 or 20 or 50 or more regularly spaced bags in sequence providing a type of illumination that we'd never seen before we visited the Land of Enchantment in December. These are the luminarias.

The tradition of lighting up properties to symbolically welcome the baby Jesus into the world stretches back all the way to Spanish colonial times, some 300 plus years ago. The first luminarias in a time when paper bags were not readily available were made as small bonfires of piñon branches set alight. When paper became available, the tradition changed to paper bags with small candles inside and a couple of cups of sand to keep the bags from blowing away. Today, I think you are unlikely to find actual candles inside actual paper bags. Most of the luminarias we saw in our week or so in state were a string of pre-wired plastic rectangles in the shape and color of brown paper bags, although we did see some actual individual paper bags weighted with sand and holding an LED tealight. More effort to turn on than flipping a switch but the lack of wires connecting the bags together is a nice bonus. Both options seemed much safer than actual flames inside actual paper bags. 

Luminarias in Albuquerque's Old Town. Waiting for nightfall (top) and illuminated (bottom).

For as simple as these lights are, they are surprisingly effective and romantic. Or maybe it's actually because they are so simple. They harken back to a time that seems to be less complicated, when resources were scarcer and when buying paper bags and candles and putting them together was an extravagance. They pair especially well with the old adobe and wood buildings in Santa Fe's historic downtown and Albuquerque's Old Town. Or even in all sorts of Albuquerque residential neighborhoods alongside animated lights displays and giant inflatable structures. They just work. They are pretty much the most perfect Christmas reflection of the state's colonial and wild west roots. 

We don't spend a lot of time decorating our townhouse for Christmas. We have a nativity display I've collected over the last 20 or so years and we have a plug-in three foot high Christmas tree that we cover with souvenir ornaments from all our various travels throughout the United States and the world. But next year, I'd seriously consider getting some paper bags and dropping some sand and tealights in them and lighting up our windows or mantel or some other part of our home. And of course, they sell luminaria kits on Amazon.

Our Santa Fe hotel, lit up with luminarias, of course.

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How We Did It

It's not difficult to find luminarias in New Mexico in December. At least not if you are in Santa Fe or Albuquerque.

If you are in Albuquerque near Christmas, I'd highly recommend the ABQ Trolley Company's Trolley of Lights Tour. It's about an hour and a half long in a very poorly heated old trolley but it's a complete blast. They take you to some just mind-blowing light displays (and I mean that in the best "what are these people thinking?" way) mostly north of downtown. They also keep you distracted and entertained en route with Christmas movie clips and trivia, including a half impossible name that tune exercise. I think I'm pretty good at name that Christmas song but Slade? Really?

I'd also highly recommend seeking out some biscochitos in your time in New Mexico at any time of the year. Our sample size was pretty much as small as it gets but Albuquerque's Golden Crown Panaderia will not steer you wrong in the biscochito department. They had some pretty good looking non-biscochito baked goods also. Next time, maybe.

Finally, the picture of the burrito on the top of this post has almost nothing really to do with Christmas. It's available year round at Tia Sophia's restaurant on San Francisco Street in Santa Fe. But it does look festive, right? That's because in New Mexico a lot of foods are available with a green or red chile smother. If you want it half and half like I did the chilly Monday morning we were in Santa Fe, just ask for Christmas. Your server will know what you mean.

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