At Sunday night's Las Posadas, there was definitely a feeling of community spirit in the crisp evening air — a sense of Santa Feans coming together to enjoy a city tradition.

In recent years, the annual event seemed more of a tourist stop, like Chimayó or maybe Jackalope, as the processioners from New England, the West Coast, Nebraska or wherever followed the holy couple around the Plaza, yelled at the rooftop devils, all the while cellphoning the whole experience back home to relatives who couldn't make the trip.

But this year seemed different — more of a local event celebrated by the locals.

"There's really a sense of Santa Feans coming together tonight," said Dave Forester of Santa Fe as he held his 7-year-old son, Chaz.

Forester was with a group of parents and kids from St. John's United Methodist Church.

Even the security staff noticed the difference. "There seem to be fewer tourists," said Mike Loosemore, who estimated the crowd at about 1,900, fewer than in recent years.

Paige Bolton of Santa Fe said it was the first time she had attended Las Posadas, Spanish for "lodging" or "accommodations," a tradition imported from Spain via Mexico commemorating the biblical Christmas narrative of Mary and Joseph's search for an inn in Bethlehem before Jesus' birth.

The event is celebrated in many Northern New Mexico communities as Christmas approaches.

Of course, there were also the visitors, often tagging along with Santa Fe relatives or friends, all bundled up against the cold and clasping their candles.

Bolton was introducing Las Posadas to her mother, Vicki Bolton of Virginia, and friend Maria Lightfoot of Longboat Key, Fla.

"It's a start of a new tradition for me," Lightfoot said. "It's wonderful."

As it has for the past 30 years or so, the procession ended in the luminaria-lit courtyard of the Palace of the Governors — with locals and visitors eating cookies and downing hot cider as they sang along with musicians playing Christmas carols near a Nativity crèche — "Feliz Navidad," of course, being the big crowd pleaser.

The musicians were from Santa Cruz de la Cañada parish near Española, the home parish for Ted Ortiz and Sylvia Montoya, the brother and sister who have played Joseph and Mary for the past 20 years.

Montoya again hinted that she might be on her last legs as the mother of God. Turns out there's a Mary-in-waiting — her daughter Kayla. But Kayla wasn't ready for the role Sunday night. "There's too many people," she said.