photography, San Miguel de Allende

To market, to market … this holiday we go

Every Christmas season, Mercado de San Juan de Dios is turned into a Winter Wonderland.

Well, pretty much minus the Winter part.

Let’s say it transforms into a Christmas Marketplace, without all the messy snow and sub-zero temperatures.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende, Writings

San Juan de Dios market is transformed into a holiday wonderland

Once more, the Mercado de San Juan de Dios is transformed into a wonderland as the Christmas marketplace is open for business.

Extra booths have been erected around the market and they are filled with ornaments, Nativity figures and accessories, decorations, Baby Jesus figurines of many hues and sizes (and gorgeous gowns of swaddling clothes), garlands, pines, sparklers, elf costumes, devil’s pitchforks, cuetlaxochitls, Santa caps, treats, and holiday fantasies.

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photography, San Miguel de Allende

A Christmas walk through San Miguel de Allende

The Jardin Principal, the towering Christmas tree, and the surrounding streets have been well-lit for the holidays since Dec. 6, That was the night of our first thunder-and-lightning drenching in weeks.

Timing is everything.

And the rains cooperated, stopping within minutes of the official Christmas tree lighting ceremony and the accompanying fireworks. (What would a tree lighting ceremony be without fireworks? Well, in San Miguel, what would any event be without fireworks?)

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photography, Reviews, San Miguel de Allende

Christmas Market (updated): Like sifting through holiday boxes in Grandma’s attic

Strolling through the Christmas Market at Mercado de San Juan de Dios in San Miguel de Allende is a lot like rooting through the boxes of holiday decorations in your grandmother’s attic.

Amid all the tinsel and strings of lights and shiny garlands and Manger figurines there is a lot of cool stuff that would look great on your tree or mantle or coffee table. Some of the designs look unchanged over the decades.

I’ll bet you could process the whole history of Christmas ornamentation in a walk around the Mercado.

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