Celebrating New Year's Eve as a family is a special occasion, but when other people arrive uninvited, many unpleasant things can happen and what should be a moment of joy, exchange of gifts, reflections and wishes for the coming year, can turn into total chaos.
The Gomez Delgado family had prepared everything they needed to spend December 31 in the tranquility of their home. Their children, Alfredo, 15, Margarita, 13, and Juan, 10, were arranging their rooms, as their mother had instructed them to help her to make the house very tidy and clean to welcome the New Year.
They were all very busy with these tasks when Mr. Rafael received a call from his mother Elisa.
"Hello mother! How are you doing over there?"
"Hello dear son! I was calling you because I wanted to give you a surprise".
"And what is it going to be?" asked Rafael, who did not trust his mother's surprises very much.
"We have decided to spend the New Year with you".
"What do you mean?, what have you decided?, and who?" Rafael's tone of voice showed great alarm.
Carmen Elena, his wife, who was listening closely, looked at him with wide eyes and immediately stopped cleaning the small St. Nicholas in her hand.
"Well, your two brothers, your uncle Rosendo and your grandmother Mercedes are very excited about the trip".
"But mom, how can you tell me this a day before?"
"Don't worry, son, we will help with the expenses, and we will bring the hallacas for dinner".
Rafael left the phone on the table and sat down in the brown leather armchair to try to assimilate what was happening.
"But Rafael! Don't tell me that your mother invented spending New Year's with us?"
"Yes, and not only her, but also my siblings and their families, and also my uncle and grandmother."
" And why didn't you tell her no, where are we going to receive that crowd?. I can't believe it".
Carmen Elena also sat on one of the chairs in the dining room while looking at her husband with a face of disgust. It was always the same. He couldn't say no to his domineering mother and dragged her and her children into very uncomfortable situations.
"I don't want them to come, call her and tell her".
"But Carmen! How do you think I am going to tell that to my mother and my grandmother, she is ninety years old, we don't know if she will be alive for next Christmas. I can't take that illusion away from her".
And with that irrefutable argument, Carmen Elena had no choice but to take a deep breath and resign herself to what was going to become her quiet end of the year. She could already imagine the commotion, the laughter and screams of the children running all over the house chasing poor Mimi, who, meowing with fright, would hide in the kitchen cabinets or ride on the mango tree to avoid being caught, them sleeping on mats in the living room, the queue of people in the only bathroom in the house. And the kitchen all messed up with Mrs. Elisa giving orders on the kitchen counter. In a gesture of desperation, Carmen ran her hands through her short brown hair and closed her eyes, breathing deeply.
Early the next morning, Rafael's relatives arrived. His mother, his grandmother, his uncle, his brother Julian with his wife Irma and their two children Carlos, ten years old and Valentina, eight years old, his sister Violeta with her husband Francisco and their daughter Magdalena, a seventeen-year-old girl, who did not seem very happy to have come. A total of ten people.
While they have settled in and chatted over lunch, it occurred to Julian that since they were cramped in the small house with two rooms and a bathroom, why not rent a house on the coast and thus take advantage of going to the beach.
To Carmen that seemed like salvation, but Rafael told them, and rightly so, that at that time it was a little difficult to find a house in a place that was very frequented by tourists.
"Let's be positive," said Elisa, "we will surely find something suitable, let's pick up what we are going to take and leave as soon as possible.
And so in less than an hour they were already in the vehicles and set off along the road that led to the coast. On the way, they had to stop many times because the sharp curves made the children dizzy.
When they reached the town, they began to look for a house, but they could not find any, the place was full of people.
While the others searched, the grandmother and the children who were tired from the trip sat on the sand to look at the sea, Carmen Elena stayed to accompany them. The night was calm with a starry sky and a cold breeze was blowing towards the coast. The people were gathered to celebrate the New Year at sea. There was a custom that once it was twelve o'clock at night and the new year had begun, you had to enter the sea with your back to the sea and make wishes.
"Mommy, I'm hungry," said little Juan to his mother. They had not eaten since early in the morning.
Carmen searched in her purse for some ham breads, which she had saved for dinner, and handed them out to the children and grandmother. She was delighted, her face was very placid with a sweet smile on her lips. Her white hair was tied up in a braid. She was the picture of tranquility, nothing seemed to bother her. With her hands, she played with the sand and had asked her grandchildren to take her closer to the sea, so she could touch it. They obliged and helped her walk to the shore, where a very gentle swell was wetting the sand.
And since they were there, the children decided to get into the water and take a dip in the sea, even Magdalena who was still bored with everything that was happening around her, cheered up and also went into the sea. They all started to play, and the grandmother was happy watching them from the shore.
Carmen Elena felt a great shame when she saw that scene, "what was she doing?"
"That ninety-year-old lady who had traveled a whole night by road without resting, who had traveled another two hours on a winding road to reach that beautiful place where she had no comforts and where no one had asked her how she felt, was there enjoying that moment, the company of her grandchildren, the contact with the sea, on that beautiful night, without thinking about anything else, just enjoying the moment".
Carmen gave the grandmother a hug and a kiss and ran to the shore.
At that moment, the twelve bells of the village church rang and the people who were waiting for that moment also ran and with their backs to the sea entered the water.
Rafael, his mother, his brothers and his uncle, arrived and approached to see what was happening.
"Carmen Elena!, what are you doing?, get out of there, we already found a house where we can stay, shouted Mrs. Elisa. "And what are you doing here, mom, getting wet and the children... get out of the water! They are going to catch a cold".
Grandma turns to look at her and without any intention of getting up from there, with a smile she tells her
"But stay calm, daughter!, don't bother them. They are enjoying the celebration, and so am I. It has been a long time since I had fun. It had been a long time since I had so much fun".
That New Year's Eve, many wishes were made among the waves of the sea, the light of the stars, the breeze with aroma and taste of salt and among so many, Grandma Mercedes' wish reached where it had to reach, so that it could be fulfilled. And this was, another opportunity to celebrate the end of the year, in a place like this, together with his beloved family.
