I made my Abuelita a scarf of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk. She is always cold (usually wearing 2 or 3 sweaters at once) and after last week's frigid weather, I thought she might like it. I wrapped it up and gave it to her when I ran into her (not literally) in the kitchen. She smiled, laughed, and thanked me, but she didn't open it. I was a little disappointed because I worked on it all week and thought it was just about beautiful. She disappeared to her room for a while and when she came down she was wearing the scarf and grinning. She thanked me, gave me a big hug, and gave me a present in return (a leather coin purse that her friend made).

I asked Lula if this not opening presents in public was normal or just Abuelita, who has her own fair share of idiosyncracies. Lula said it was normal. I might ask a few more people just to make sure, because you can't very well base your understanding of a culture on what 1 or 2 people say. I bet it's true, though.

1 Comment

1. Unknown on January 25, 2008 at 9:25 PM

   I've been encouraged looking through your blog--lovely, thoughtful posts. I especially like this one! I love this cultural moment--and pain free at that! Keep them coming. My experience in Bolivia was the same....they never opened presents in front of guests. --emily (ogden)_