This is a New Mexico thing - Sergio has fond memories of his whole neighborhood going out on Christmas Eve and lighting their candles. What I love about Luminaries is the simplicity - brown paper bags, votive candles and sand - voila. I am currently painting our brown bags with red and green chiles, which is kind of heretical but yet, completely New Mexico. In fact, a sauce of red and green chile is called "Christmas style". So today I rounded up sand (free), some old paper bags and some obnoxiously-scented "Cinnamon Bun" votive candles. Our neighborhood is having a St. Bernadette's parade on December 12th to the local Catholic church and we may add our lights to the community blaze - or wait until Christmas Eve and guide Santa in through our New Mexico runway.
