I have never been much given to celebrating emblematic dates, however, there are some that seem essential to me because they represent opportunities to meet with loved ones. I never celebrate these dates with “fashionable” activities, but I try to do it in a way that is comfortable, that allows me to celebrate around an activity that I like, where I feel somehow at home, but in a special way.
I don't know if I make myself clear.
For example, I never celebrate Valentine's Day, I prefer to celebrate Book Day, because not only because of my profession as a language teacher and writer this day is very important in my life, but also because one of the activities that my whole family enjoys is reading.
In my large family, the one that includes my parents, siblings, nieces and nephews... and their respective families, we celebrate Christmas together. That includes a special day with coffee, scrabble and dishes that everyone brings to put up Christmas decorations in the parental home, and, of course, Christmas and New Year's Eve dinners, which are usually opulent and joyous.
Mother's Day, on the other hand, is usually more intimate and discreet. I have three sisters, and we usually get together for that day with our children, if we are in the same city or if circumstances permit.
What my daughter and husband do is take me out for coffee at some point during the day. That tends to be my favorite present, whether or not it is accompanied by some other gift.
This year I have been at full capacity with work and I had a week in which I slept very little, so the weekend came and I didn't feel like doing anything. Also, our little dog, who has been with us for eighteen years, is very old and has started to show that she is running out of time, so we don't want to leave her alone anymore. So we take turns going out.
In view of the situation, my daughter suggested that this Mother's Day, we do some shopping for dinner at home and watch a movie.
We took the opportunity to have a coffee with my sister, @marlyncabrera and I had an extra large mocachino at La Panettería, which is very close to my house.
Other times I have talked about this coffe shop.
You can find very tasty things. This time the coffee was not quite to my liking although it was delicious.
I already explained this contradiction: it did not taste like coffee; it was more like chocolate with some coffee.
Coffee usually accentuates chocolate, it makes its character stand out. I love chocolate and in my country we usually find high quality national and foreign chocolates. Because of my family origin (my father comes from a cocoa growing region), I have grown up tasting cocoa and it is part of my food identity, but that day I wanted coffee.
My daughter had ordered a macchiato, to try, as she says, an “old people's coffee”, but, as expected, she didn't like it. I know she prefers sweet and creamy coffees. So we ended up switching coffees, and, as the mocaccino was really great, I had some too. And I had some sweet cookies... And it was a lot of fun and I ended up getting the best of both worlds.
It was a nice Mother's Day.