Roxana’s Blog

On a recent trip to Tijuana, I got my daughter Vanessa a wall calendar in Spanish. Since we just got back home from a holiday trip, we only put it up yesterday. Immediately, she saw the little drawing on the calendar marking el Día de los Reyes Magos and she realized it was right around the corner. On Sunday, Jan. 6 to be exact. I, of course, panicked because although I have a couple of books I kept over fromRead More ...

We’ve been in Texas since Friday spending time with some really good Mexican friends we consider family. We’re preparing everything for our New Year’s Eve celebration tonight and as I was checking to make sure we had enough grapes for everyone to eat 12 at the stroke of midnight, I started thinking of all the other traditions/superstitions Latinos have related to Año Nuevo. 12 uvas de la suerte This tradition is originally from Spain, but has been adopted by manyRead More ...

The lechón smells delicious as it finishes roasting in the oven, the majority of the gifts are wrapped and underneath the Christmas tree and the playlist full of trullas navideñas and villancicos is ready for tonight’s Nochebuena celebration, which I’ll be hosting in my home this year. It’s going to be a long night… but one of my favorite ones of the year. I doubt we’ll wait until midnight to have dinner — like we  used to when I wasRead More ...

The bell rings and Santiago runs to get the door shrieking with excitement. He’s been waiting all afternoon for friends of ours to come over for dinner so he can play with their 7-year-old son. “Hi, Liam!” he says and hugs him as soon as I open the door. “Hi, Santiago!” Liam responds and off they run to play with Vanessa who’s in the playroom in the basement. A bit later, they all come up to the kitchen where I’mRead More ...

Me encanta el otoño en Colorado… y a mis hijos ¡más! ...

I love the holidays, but one thing I definitely don’t like is the amount of money I usually end up spending — especially if we travel overseas to visit my family back home in Peru or my husband’s family in Puerto Rico. This year, however, we’re not going anywhere, and I’ve decided I’m going to take a different approach when it comes to my holiday shopping. So besides doing what every single expert will tell you are the best tipsRead More ...

It’s been two weeks since my family and I got back from one of the most memorable vacations we’ve spent together — a Western Caribbean cruise aboard the world’s largest ship, Allure of the Seas, courtesy of Fisher-Price and Royal Caribbean — and my kids are still talking about it. We sailed from Port Everglades in Ft. Lauderdale and after two days at sea, we docked in Labadee, Haiti. It was a great opportunity for me to practice my FrenchRead More ...

As millions of Americans go out and vote for the next president of the United States today, and the excitement associated with the empowerment brought about by casting a ballot is palpable in the air, I’m left wondering, once again, if the time has come to change my attitude regarding my immigration status. So I figured this would be a great opportunity to share an excerpt from our book Bilingual is Better. This is from chapter 5, ”Between Two Worlds: Identity vs.Read More ...