Disneyland Resort celebrates the holidays in Latin-style with “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!”. The grand finale is a commemoration of the Three Kings Day/Día de Reyes from Jan. 3-6, 2014.

As we shared with you when the  ¡Viva Navidad! celebrations started last month, we’ve been extremely excited by the way our culture is being interpreted for our kids to immerse themselves in it. From the fabulous Street Party with Mojiganga puppets, mariachi and samba music, folkloric dancers and the Three Caballeros and Mickey and Minnie in festive attire, to the Latin-inspried food, shows and crafts for kids.

For Día de Reyes, Paradise Pier at Disney’s California Adventure Park invites guest to come and celebrate this special celebration observed mainly by Catholics, but that has become a traditional celebration across Latin America and carried on by Latinos around the world.

Kids will find booths for face painting, arts, crafts and to take special pictures con Melchor, Gaspar y Baltazar.

The Three Caballeros go all out to celebrate Disney ¡Viva Navidad! and kids can have fun decorating these special crowns.

The menu for the celebration takes on some of the favorite Latin dishes. We all raved about the pozole and you can check out how to make it in this video.

We interview Susana Tubert, one of the Disney creatives behind the whole ¡Viva Navidad! concept, to tell us more about how families can celebrate el Día de Reyes Magos at Disneyland Resort.

We also got to chat with Cristian León, Disneyland Resort spokesperson, with Micky, Minnie, a giant mojiganga and folkloric dancers adding the fiesta to our video.

For more videos, pictures and information on Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! celebration, check out Disneyland.com/Holidays and  our full coverage below:

Disneyland’s Pozole Recipe for Día de Reyes Magos

Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party Celebrates Latino Culture and Language

Sneek Peek at Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! Street Fiesta

La Navidad is Coming to Disneyland Resort: Disney ¡Viva Navidad! 

Disneyland’s Latino-Style ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party: 5 Reasons Why It’s a Must-See

Disneyland Resort has been celebrating la Navidad a lo grande with “Disney ¡Viva Navidad!” throughout the holiday season with beautiful shows, music, activities and food that celebrates nuestra cultura. The grand finale is an observance of Día de Reyes from Friday, Jan. 3 to Monday, Jan. 6.

We were there for a media event to capture some of this Three Kings Day magic, happening at Paradise Pier Gardens in Disney’s California Adventure Park, and got the chance to meet with Chef José Ruiz and learn how they prepare the delicious pozole that has been a guest favorite during ¡Viva Navidad!, among the delicious menu of Latin fare that includes mole, tortas al pastor, sopes, street style tacos, conchas and much more.

If you get a chance to visit Disney’s California Adventure Park, make sure you stop by the Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta in Paradise Pier to grab your bowl of some very delicious and authentic pozole!

For more videos, pictures and information on Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! celebration, check out Disneyland.com/Holidays and  our full coverage below:

How to Celebrate Three Kings Day/Día de Reyes at Disneyland Resort

Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party Celebrates Latino Culture and Language

Sneek Peek at Disney’s ¡Viva Navidad! Street Fiesta

La Navidad is Coming to Disneyland Resort: Disney ¡Viva Navidad! 

Disneyland’s Latino-Style ¡Viva Navidad! Street Party: 5 Reasons Why It’s a Must-See

May you discover the magic of la Navidad all over again! Merry Christmas!

La Plaza Olvera is where the heart of Mexican culture in Los Angeles beats. This is where all the tourists go to in downtown to get a feel of a traditional plaza with its mercadito, churros, tamales and obligatory knick knacks to buy. But Olvera Street is more than a tourist spot, it’s a historical landmark known as “the birthplace of Los Angeles,” or Nuestra Ciudad de Los Angeles.

So imagine how thrilled we were when Camila’s Spanish music teacher at school — which so happens to be Sara of Music with Sara! — told us the school’s Spanish immersion students had been invited to sing at the Plaza Olvera’s tree lighting ceremony! Of course we signed her up and she was super excited.

They sang a slew of traditional villancicos, as well as adored songs like “Cómo la Flor” and “Tómbola.” The kids were just amazing and our hearts melted every time Sara would get up to let the audience know that these kids are learning in two languages and most of them don’t even have the luxury of speaking Spanish at home. Yet there they were, singing their hearts out en español y en la Plaza Olvera.

Below are a few Instagram videos I made, but I also share more pictures of this beautiful moment, as well as of the other three music and ballet performances my daughter had the last few weeks, over in this post on my Babble column. She’s sure kept us busy y muy orgullosos!!

The Mysteries of Bilingualism II on Psychology Today — Prof. François Grosjean delves into aspects of bilingualism that remain an enigma. In this case, he writes about language choice, code-switching and language interferences — topics that have been researched at the linguistic level, but not at the cognitive and neurolinguistic ones.

¡Aprender español está de moda! on El Sentinel — A look at how more and more people are realizing the importance of learning Spanish as a second language.

New Fort Worth program will graduate bilingual students on the Star-Telegram — Parents in Fort Worth whose children are attending dual language immersion elementary schools won’t have to worry about what’ll happen to their kids once they move on to middle and high school thanks to a new school, World Languages Institute, that will be open next fall.

Constant need for bilingual volunteers, more so during holidays on Journal and Courier — Interesting read about the need for bilingual volunteers to serve as translators in charitable organizations like the Salvation Army.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Huggies. As always, all opinions are my own.

Nothing can really prepare you for that magical day when your baby arrives home for the very first time and all of a sudden you’ve truly become a family. You’ve spent months dreaming about this day and making sure every single detail is in order. The nesting stage seems to have put you in overdrive when it comes to making sure that everything your baby will need to feel welcomed, safe and loved is all set.

While there are many essentials our bebesitos need as soon as they are born, the reality is that all they truly desire is to be nurtured and cared by you and papá. To be able to fully be there and present for your little one at all times during those critical first weeks of birth, mamá needs to take care of herself and make sure that once you arrive home you have what you need to be comfortable and rested so you can focus on bonding with your child.

Aside from making sure the nursery is fully equipped to welcome baby, make sure you also prepare your home to meet your immediate needs in this new stage of life. Prepare yourself for a few weeks of new emotions, feelings, sensations and a different pace in your life from what you’ve been used to.

Taking some time beforehand to have a few things around the house taken care of prior to baby’s arrival and checking out other details on Huggies Latino’s Respuestas para Mamá, will make the transition smoother for you. Here are six ideas you might not have considered yet, but that can be very useful:

1. Batch cook a few meals to keep in the freezer and heat up to serve a meal at anytime. It’s essential you’re feeding yourself well, especially if you’re nursing your baby.

2. Have plenty of water at hand. Invest in a filter or make sure to have a refillable water bottle to just keep at your side at all times. Hydration is key as you recover from labor and get back into a sleeping routine.

3. Get a notebook and pen, or a good app on your smartphone, to keep a diary of your baby’s feedings, bowel movements and sleep. This is all essential information that your pediatrician will ask you during your visits and the more detailed information you have, the more useful it is.

4. Keep a digital camera or smartphone close to you at all times because these precious first moments only happen once.

5. In advance of baby’s arrival, find an online site that delivers the baby essentials you will need to replenish on a constant basis, such as Huggies Little Snugglers Diapers, Huggies Natural Care Wipes and formula, if needed. Create an account so that you can quickly access it to have your basics shipped to you immediately. Most don’t charge shipping costs and arrive quickly to your doorstep.

6. Create a playlist of your favorite nursery rhymes and soothing white noise to help baby calm down and ease into sleep.

These first days and weeks are the most intense, yet the most memorable and important for your baby’s development. You will definitely be focused on him, but don’t forget to take care of yourself so you can truly enjoy these moments.

Photo credit: Gabi Menashe on Flickr

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Although Las Posadas is not something I celebrated as a child, I believe the beautiful tradition is something worth exploring with my kids.

In a way, it’s similar to the Puerto Rico tradition known as parrandas, where a group of people go from house to house singing and playing musical instruments mostly for entertainment purposes. In the case of Las Posadas, the idea is that the group of people actually represents how Mary and Joseph went around Bethlehem looking for lodging.

Las Posadas starts nine days before Christmas to represent Mary’s nine months of pregnancy and there’s a couple of ways in which farolitos or luminarias are used during this time. The leader of the procession is supposed to carry one to guide the rest of the group from house to house. But, they are also used to light up the entrance to each home visited during the procession.

Although my kids and I to haven’t had the opportunity to participate in Las Posadas just yet, I do love the idea of creating these farolitos to light up the entrance to our home during the holiday season. This simple, yet beautiful craft will make your house stand out!

All you need are a bunch of brown paper lunch bags, scrapbooking scissors, electric votive candles and stickers or anything else you may want to use to decorate your farolitos–all of which you can find at your local Walmart.

I asked my daughter to use the scrapbooking scissors to cut the lunch bags in half so they wouldn’t be super tall. I then folded the top part in half and attempted to cut out a star. We then used some glitter foam stickers to decorate the bags and put the electric votive candles inside.

I am part of the Windows Champions Program. As a Windows Champion on behalf of SpanglishBaby, I am loaned a laptop, and, on occasion, Microsoft products such as software to assist me in developing content for my blog posts. All opinions are my own.

Do you send out Christmas cards? This season is so busy that if you haven’t gotten around to it yet, you’re running out of time to get them to the post office and sent so that they arrive before the holiday. If you’re sending a card from the U.S. to anywhere in Latin America, you’re probably already too late. (Honestly, I don’t even attempt it anymore. I sent handmade cards to family in El Salvador around 2008 and they still haven’t arrived! Who knows what happened to them.)

One solution to consider is sending your holiday greeting online. The Hallmark “Go Cards” app is a free download from the Windows 8 app store, and they even have a few cards in Spanish.

Once you download the app, simply open it and choose “Winter Holidays.” Select a card, personalize it, and send! All the cards are $3.49, about the average cost of a printed card, but these are customizable so that you can write your message in whichever language your recipient might prefer and include a photo of the niños, too!

¡Feliz Navidad!

You might remember Pango, the adorable blue raccoon, from our previous review of Pango Imaginary Car. Developer Studio Pango has just released a cute seasonal app which is, best of all, multilingual. Pango Christmas 2013 is a fun way to keep kids excited about the upcoming holiday.

In this app, Pango is getting ready for Christmas with his animal friends. They are setting up the wreath, building a snowman, and staying warm by the fire while they participate in other traditional preparations.

Each interactive page has some fun surprises and funny new characters. It’s highly entertaining for preschoolers and offers an opportunity for Spanish reading practice for the slightly older kids.

Note: Just change your device language to Spanish (or any of the other 7 languages compatible with Pango apps) and the app language will change.

Find Pango Christmas 2013 in iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon App Store

Available for iPhone, iPad, and Android

Recommended for ages 3 and up

Price: $2.99 – $3.66

Check out more from Studio Pango on their website.

Disclosure: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

My 7-year-old daughter, Vanessa, loves it when I tell her we’re going to do a craft together. Although I’m never sure if I’m doing things right, just quality spending time with her and my younger son trying to make something beautiful and unique with our own hands is enough to make me love it too!

Since we’ll be spending Nochebuena at my sister’s house this year and she’s asked all of us to bring an ornament for her Christmas tree, we decided that we would make them, making sure we somehow incorporated the Spanish language. After trying to come up with something totally different, I remembered I had once seen an ornament made with the wooden tiles of Scrabble, one of my favorite board games.

Believe or not, I have a really old one that I’ve kept for many years even though it’s missing many of the letters. I know I could’ve just ordered the ones missing, but I never got around to it and since we wanted to make some original ornaments, I figured the time had come to put the tiles to good use.

So we decided to make ornaments with words in Spanish that represent the holidays for us using Scrabble letters. If you don’t have a set of Scrabble, you can get one for less than $20 at Walmart. While it may feel weird to get a board game just for a craft, think about the compliments you’ll get on your unique ornaments.

Other than the actual wooden tiles, you’ll need some Christmas-themed ribbon, a gun glue and any other trinkets you may want to include and you can find all of it in the crafts section of your local Walmart. We got some jingle bells and we ended up doing two different types of ornaments. One with the words spelled out horizontally using colorful foam sheets as the backing and one with the words  spelled out vertically using ribbon as the backing.

The first thing we did was come up with a list of words in Spanish that we associate with the holiday season. Then, we grabbed the ribbon of our choice and we laid down each letter attaching it to the ribbon with a bit of glue. We left a bit of space between each tile because we wanted the polka dots to come through, but you don’t have to. We also left extra ribbon on top to make a loop to hang the ornament.

My favorite part of this craft is that the options are endless and the kids get to practice their spelling in Spanish!