Luminaries... not quite!

Last night in my home town was one of my favorites of the New Mexico holiday season. Time again for those lovely little paper lanterns called luminaries! For weeks now, I've been looking forward to bundling up in my coat, boots, and scarf and wandering through the magical maze of these twinkling lights. However, Mr. Snow Miser had a different idea last night and decided to douse our lights with snow and slush, forcing this annual tradition to be cancelled. 

Sad times! I was so looking forward to photographing this enchanting part of the New Mexican holidays. (I'm not going to complain too much though, because despite the loss of my luminaries, the weather we've been having this weekend has me absolutely giddy. More on that later.)

So rather than post new photos as I had hoped, I decided to dig through the blog archives and re-post some pictures and thoughts from last year. Enjoy!

~Jasmine

Originally posted on December 14, 2010.

On the 2nd day of Christmas... there were luminaries! It's one of the traditions at my house every year to get together with friends, get all bundled up and go to our local college to walk through the thousands of luminaries they have spread out all over the campus. I'm not sure how widespread the practice of putting up luminaries is, but explaining what they are to someone who's never seen one usually results in a perplexed look. What are luminaries you ask? They're paper lunch bags filled with dirt with a candle inside. Yep. That's all they are. And one may wonder just what it is that's so wonderful about them. Honestly, I don't know. I think it's one of those things that's special because it's attached to so many good memories- not because it's necessarily spectacular. For me, there's something peaceful about getting all wrapped up in my coat and scarf and wandering around the college at night amongst the flickering lights of a thousand New Mexican paper lanterns. The dark of the winter night is contrasted by the glow of the candles, and somewhere in the distance, Christmas carols can be heard. Sometimes there's so much comfort in the simplest of traditions. Sometimes, the things we love don't have to make sense to anyone else.

Take time to enjoy the simple things that are special just to you.

~Jazzy